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Eric Dick
Revel Bikes is back under founder ownership. Talk about what's changed.
Adam Miller
They ran things differently than I would have hoped they would have. Financial performance declined, things got tough and they decided to pull funding and close the company. When I got that call, I decided to buy the company back. It was pretty wild and I still don't know that I understand fully what was going on there. The bank doesn't care that I was the founder. Totally fine. Bank cares about money. That's their job. But I had to kind of finagle a deal of like, well, how do I make this happen and beat out all these other people that are interested in the company able to work at the bank and say, hey, I'll write you a check tomorrow. The company closing affected so many people in a bad way. Now that I feel like I got fortunate enough to be able to be back in this position, I want to really make sure we do things the best way possible.
Eric Dick
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Adam Miller
I'm doing good. Thanks for having me back so quickly. I appreciate the opportunity to be back.
Eric Dick
Recap the exit portion of your story, and then talk about what's changed.
Adam Miller
Yeah, so I exited the company. I started Revel Bikes. I exited at the end of 2021, and then I stayed on working for the private equity firm that bought my company for a couple of years after that. I hired a CEO in 2023 and then stepped away fully from the company a few months after that, early 2024, I stepped company. So when we were recording the podcast the last time, great conversation about how things got started, how we bootstrapped the company, how we. How we launched the brand, and then we started talking about how I sold the company. And at the time, this is a. This was a few months ago, I was still kind of in my. Oh, I sold the company. I fully left a year, year and a half ago, and, you know, figuring out what to do next. And just a few weeks after we recorded that podcast, I found out. The day before the public found out, I found out that the company that I started was closing its doors. The private equity firm, I guess they ran things differently than I would have hoped they would have, and financial performance declined, and things got tough and they decided to pull funding and close the company. So when I got that call saying that they were closing, I decided to buy the company back.
Eric Dick
And.
Adam Miller
And after a few crazy weeks of. Of. Of all of that craziness, I'm very pleased to say it did work out, and I now own my company again.
Eric Dick
Amazing. So talk. Walk me through that process. Is it. Was it just like. Was it because they were putting it down, it became relatively easy for you to pick it back up?
Adam Miller
Yeah, it was. It was pretty wild. And I still don't know that I understand fully what was going on there. It was. Cause it was just crazy. When we sold the business in 2021, things were going really well at the time. You know, the brand was fantastic, financial performance was really great, profitability was great, but we were still always looking for cash. So I decided to sell the business because I wanted more expertise. We were growing faster than I ever thought the business would grow. So I wanted more expertise for how to scale a business. I had never managed a company that size or thought I would be managing a company that size. So I wanted expertise and, and I wanted capital. My home equity, lines of credit or my handful of investors that I had were not going to be able to continue to fund the business to grow at the rate it was growing. So sold the company. It went great. It made my investors at the time very happy. Everything went well. And then the private equity firm just, they had a much more, just kind of a different approach of how to run the business.
Eric Dick
I say different, you mean like more because with founder you're, you're passionate, you're really hands on, you know that business inside and out. Was it just more of like a hands off kind of approach that just didn't end up working or.
Adam Miller
It was a, you know, it was a, it was a little bit of, a lot of things that didn't, that didn't quite jive with me. It was a reason I left the company. You know, I didn't, when I sold the business, I didn't think I would just leave, but I did have some hard times with kind of some, some of the decisions that were made. It got really inefficient in the sense of building inventory, changing how we built and assembled bikes. The cash needs that were required to support that business model were huge, huge. It was a model that looked better on paper, but it allowed for like way less creativity and being nimble and whatnot. There was more bikes and boxes and inventory and ultimately borrowing more, more money to pay for more inventory is what got the company into a bit of trouble. And then just focusing on it was just more kind of corporate and bureaucratic and less sort of startup scrappy. Which even though we were a successful business, we were still kind of being, we were still operating like a startup is still being quite scrappy. And so they just sort of, it just got very inefficient, hired a lot of people, hired a lot of expensive people. And it wasn't always kind of the right areas to focus on in my opinion. But I still thought okay, they're doing fine. They're doing great. You know, I'll sit back and I'm proud of the business I started. I didn't think they'd close the doors through it through a really. Through a type of a bankruptcy. So.
Eric Dick
And from their perspective, I guess with the amount of deals and the size of deals they have in place, something like this might be more of a rounding error or it's. It's sort of like they're able to just say, okay, let's take this off the books. It's a drain on our talent or whatever. Whereas for you, it's your baby, 100%.
Adam Miller
Yep. And that sort of thing happens a lot in private equity. You know, you invest in X number of deals and you plan for some to do really well and some to do okay and some to not do well. And when this one wasn't doing well, they just said, yeah, we'll just. We'll close it. But with that, it's, you know, it's terrible. It's, you know, something I put so many years in, but so many other people around me, so many of the. Of the employees that have been here since the beginning put, you know, years and years and tons of effort and sleeping in camper vans at trade shows and, you know, all sorts of stuff. So to close the company was just. Was just terrible. And not to mention, you know, tens of thousands of customers around the world that owned the product, that loved the bikes, that, you know, had bought a product with a lifetime warranty. You know, just. There's a lot of passion involved. And so when they decided to close it, it's just. It's just, you know, it's. It's horribly sad for any. For any company to go through that.
Eric Dick
And bikes just have such a special place. Like, every bike I've had, I can remember the b. I actually owned a bike brand recently that was like a defunct brand. But people would stop me and be like, oh, you got one of those? Like, wow, I haven't seen one of those in a while. Like, there's a real cult following about bike brand specifically, too, right?
Adam Miller
Super cult following. And there's like an outsized. You know, people care a lot because you do cool stuff with your bike. You take it on cool adventures. And so, like, yeah, there's a lot of passion involved from. From the customer base. So, I mean, when. So I kind of heard rumblings that the company was going through financial trouble about a week before. I was actually, like, I was in Papua New guinea, like, hiking. I was in, like, the most remote part of the world I've ever been to, and got some cell service and got a few text messages from people in the finance world that were like, hey, it sounds like there's some issues going on at your old company. And I've been out of it. And I purposely tried to really stay out of everything and not think about it. Much easier said than done. And then I got back and I got a call on. Let's see, it was a Wednesday night. I got a call from the CEO of the company that I, you know, I hadn't heard from the private equity group or the CEO and many months I got a call and he said, I'm really sorry, the company's closing tomorrow. And then the next day, press release went out that the Rebel Bikes is closing its doors. And I mean, I was like, I was devastated. And then the number of calls and messages I got from people, people I hadn't heard from in years. Maybe someone who bought a bike. You know, back when we first launched, like, people were reaching out, and it was like. It was wildly emotional. It was a really bizarre roller coaster of feelings and just like, devastation. I mean, it was just like, it's awful to hear that.
Eric Dick
Using it all over again. Right, because you. You had already sold it and kind of divested yourself from it a little bit in your personality. Then you quit. So that was a second death, and then the third of it actually closing the door. Is this finality.
Adam Miller
That's a perfect way of putting it. Exactly. And, you know, after being away from the company for a year and being really proud of it, but, you know, obviously I also missed it a lot. It was a huge part of me. It was a. It was a way that I was able to meet so many cool people. I was really proud of what we did, and it was a great. It was just so many good things came from that company. So closing it was, in my mind was just like, not. Not an option, but that's what. That's what they did. So basically, they defaulted on a line of Credit. They owed J.P. morgan a big chunk of money, and they defaulted on that loan, and the bank foreclosed and took the assets. So I called the bank and. And offered to buy the company from the bank. What was a little crazy is they got. I guess they had been trying to sell the company for a few weeks before that, knowing things weren't going to quite pan out how they hoped. And then when the news went public, I mean, it kind of took over the bike media like for a few days every single publication all over the world was only talking about this because it's like, it's big news. And the bank got like over 100 offers from people to buy the company. And I found out that a lot of them were like, you know, maybe a lot of them weren't super real, but a lot of them were like private equity companies that do company liquidations. And then a lot of them were like foreign owned and some US owned private equity firms that owned other bike related brands or components or distribution or something. And likely what they would have done is bought, you know, bought the company for the brand name, put it on their own products, shut things down here and rebuilt it or you know, anything like that, which is all totally like, that's all super viable business, totally understand it. But for me I was like, man, this, I don't want to see my company go that way. So I was able to work with the bank and say, hey, I'll, I'll write you a check tomorrow. Like I don't need to do due diligence. I, it's, I've been out of the business for a while. I know things probably aren't, aren't great or else they wouldn't close their doors, but let's figure out how to make this happen. And so then I was able to do that. You know, it's funny, like the bank doesn't care that I was the founder or whatever, which is again totally fine. Bank cares about money, that's their job. It's all good. But I had to kind of finagle a deal of like, well how do I make this happen and beat out all these other people that are interested in the company? And I was able to do that just by moving really quickly. There was an Article 9 transaction which is a type of a kind of bankruptcy sort of thing, fast tracked bankruptcy sort of a thing. And there is like, there's this like 10 day public notice and then a one hour auction period and it was like down to the wire. Like this auction was from noon to 1pm and I was sitting at the bank with funds ready to wire, waiting on a signature at 1257. And it was like I was just sitting there like, hadn't slept in a few days. I was like this whole thing is just like nuts. I'd love to never ever learn about or, or go through any type of a business process like that again. Luckily I was on the side of being able to buy it and bring the company back, but it's not a Fun situation dealing with people who work through like companies closing all day long. So crazy, crazy few hours.
Eric Dick
I don't know what you can disclose. I know you haven't. We haven't talked purchase price or anything like that. I don't know if that's public, but like, give me an idea of like the how much you were able to acquire it for versus what it originally sold for. Like, I don't know, as a percentage. Can you say that?
Adam Miller
Yeah, I mean, I guess I do have some, some non disclosures on specific numbers, but it was, it was literally pennies, Literally pennies on the dollar.
Eric Dick
I think about the, we were talking about the Dave Portnoy example of barstool sports getting sold back to him for a dollar just because. I think in that case it was because the person, the acquirer couldn't ended up being too sticky of a property because of gambling rules and laws like that. But it's pretty amazing when this happens. What I want to ask is what were you doing in the inter. In the intervening period? You were in Papua New Guinea? We were. You were, you had gone into the jungles. Were you. Did you work on anything during that period? And how did you feel during the parts where you didn't have this mission that you kind of had for the past 10 years?
Adam Miller
Yeah, totally. I mean, it was, it was a great mental, you know, time to gain more mental clarity, figure out what's valuable, what I care about, all that good stuff because I've been so like in the business. Like I'm sure so many people here, you get so focused on it. So, you know, I sold it and I left the company and that was really, really nice for a few months. And then, and then I was kind of like ready for what's next. I started working on a few things, did some consulting for some other businesses. I kind of kept on coming back to bikes, even though I sort of thought I might try something different. But it's fun to kind of apply the, you know, combining business and bike something I care about is just really fun. So I kept coming back to like, well, that would be really cool to get back into the bike world. And I actually ended up like, I bought like 20 different domain names for my next bike company over, over the last few months. I had, I was under non, non compete, so I couldn't quite jump in, which was fine. It was good to take some time off. But yeah, I was traveling a bunch. I went to Papua New guinea on like a business founder trip with some great friends and we Were hiking around. We were literally, like, camping with this, like, tribe in the middle of nowhere, Papua New Guinea. It was, like, a very unique trip. We were like, on this hike and hiked up, and I turned my phone on, which my phone is off for most of that trip, and like, all these messages popped in from. From no one at the company or the private equity firm, but from kind of other people within the industry or finance world, and they're all like, yeah, there's something going on. And so then it was kind of really great. I was with other D2C founder company people that are all friends that we all talk about a lot of business stuff. And I was like, whoa, this is coming up. I wonder what might happen? And then got back to Australia, hopped on some phone calls, found out the next day, truly, that the company was going to close. And. And then it was kind of full steam ahead. But it was nice to have that period of time where I wasn't in it to realize how badly I want to get back to something like this. So then I guess, you know, as horrible as it was for the business to close, it really was an opportunity that I feel really, really grateful that it worked out. So now I feel like I got a chance to do this again and do it the right way for the long haul.
Eric Dick
Now what's different? What has. Cause when you were looking to sell, you needed more capital to grow. We were looking for expertise. Like, what's changed in round two of Revel?
Adam Miller
Yeah, I mean, a huge thing just overall is. Is to focus on being a little bit smaller for. For. For a longer period of time. I don't have the same, like, grow at all cost mentality at all. Like, I want to be in this for the long haul. I don't plan on selling the business again. You know, before it was kind of. I didn't even really know there were other options. I was like, oh, yeah, you start a business and then. And then you sell it. And like, now it's like, no, I want to grow this for, like, I've. I feel so lucky to be back here making bikes and getting to travel around the world to sell bikes. Like, it's kind of a dream job. So, like, I don't want to sell it again, but I want to build it to be a very sustainable, successful company that makes the absolute best bikes. And I won't be taking on, you know, investors that want to have, like, a quick exit or anything like that. So it kind of takes the pressure off. We can run it how it should be run. But a really cool thing was the company right before they closed, which I realized they kind of. They kind of made this big announcement and as a last ditch effort to try to sell the business or something, they launched three new bikes. And they were all three new bikes. The company has a total product line of like 7. 7 bikes. But these were kind of three of the main ones. They were all projects that I started back in 2021 and 2022. And then the team got into the finish line and they did a phenomenal job. One thing the private equity firm did kind of keep funding really great product development that realistically sort of set the company up a level. So I was able to acquire the company with three bikes that I wanted to make that are ready to go, that we're shipping right now. And that's like huge. Like, what a. What an amazing feeling. So we did change immediately. We changed several things. So one, the company's a whole lot smaller just from a staff and overhead perspective. And then we became really solely a D2C brand. So we were doing kind of a hybrid model selling through retailers, I should say they were doing a hybrid model. The new version now we adjusted all of our pricing 25 to 35% lower, which gives customers a much more reasonably priced bike. But then we kind of have this premium D2C model. So we started doing meta ads two weeks ago. We're re platforming our website to shopify. We're kind of modernizing everything that realistically, even when I had started, it was already sort of outdated. So sort of modernizing everything to be a real proper D2C brand. Making, making the bikes who want to ride.
Eric Dick
To my ears, more ads you're going to get.
Adam Miller
You're going to get ads.
Eric Dick
Now as an agency, I just. Anytime anyone's investing heavily into ads, I love to hear it. Well, that's super cool. Is there any, was there any detriment to the way this went down? Like you said, like, it was, it was, it was sort of bad for the business when it closed. Was there anything that you had to overcome there, you know, or was it just more publicity? More people had all of a sudden heard of Revel and then you were able to correct that they didn't close. Like, was there any detriment to the business going through this?
Adam Miller
Yeah, there was a lot less than I thought. Certainly we have more work to do on kind of letting the world know that Rebel Bikes is back. You know, like bad news travels faster than good news generally. But so many people followed along so much. And absolutely the brand got more publicity. And over the last. We've been really, since it's been a few weeks of like actually operating the business and the new entity, new sales model, new D2C focus, new everything. We've had like three and a half weeks of Apple actual operations at the time of this conversation. And sales numbers have been better than they have for apparently like the previous six to nine months. And we've been barely like, we're just being reactive right now. I'm just like, what, you know, where do we need to hire? Who are we going to hire? Or we're going to keep it kind of small. So it's, it's honestly couldn't be like a better feeling in that sense of like, okay, customers are excited, they're happy, they're glad we're back. People know the bikes are great, the brand is a good image, but obviously a company going through a bankruptcy and closing and then coming back is like tons of turmoil. So at the same time that things are going well, I definitely feel they need to work on telling that story and let people know, like, hey, yeah, we're here. We're here for the long haul. Like, you know, buy a bike, you can call us up in five years if you need a spare part or what, you know, any. Anything like that. So.
Eric Dick
And then you didn't do this on purpose. This is like, you didn't do it this way on purpose, but it, it's worked out really well, I guess. Is there anything that you do differently about this process? If you were doing because you kind of would want to sell it and then buy it back? Like, is there anything you do differently about this process?
Adam Miller
Man, I've stayed awake at night thinking about that a lot the last few weeks. I feel so overly, like, fortunate to be in this situation with, with the idea that, you know, the company closing and, you know, that's just, just terrible that affected so many people in a bad way. And now, now that I feel like I got fortunate enough to, to be able to be back in this position, I want to really make sure we do things the best way possible. So I kind of have a little extra motivation, I suppose, in that sense. But I mean, it's easy for me to say, like, oh, never sell my company again to private equity. You know, they mess things up and I'll never do that. Like, but that being said, because I sold to them because the private equity company then invested money into the business, set up things like this Taiwan warehouse. You know, we were Able to get into the best factories in the world. We were able to kind of really level up the business. It would have taken me 10 years to do that on, on my own without that outside capital. So I guess if I really want to zoom out and get all zen about the whole thing, I wouldn't change anything. I feel. I feel really fortunate now. Now we just got to, got to, got to do it right and build this company for the long haul.
Eric Dick
It's just interesting that the changes that you've made are not like, you know, you've trimmed down the size, maybe some of the distribution, you change the distribution, but it's like these changes that you've made, like PE quality could have done these things to right the ship. But again, for them, it's just they want to plant a new seed or they want it. They want it rather than to. To manage this one, they want to just move on to the next one. Is that kind of the way it is?
Adam Miller
I think that's exactly the way it is. Yeah. It's just. It's just a matter of scale and a matter of, you know, money and different opportunities. And for me, you know, I'm not putting my money in thinking in three years, I need a certain internal rate of return and, you know, whatever I'm putting this in for, to build a company I'm really, really proud of for the long haul. So. Makes sense for me, it might, might not make sense for a private equity company at this time.
Eric Dick
Super cool. Well, thank you for coming on and giving us this update. I'm looking. I'm going to look forward to following the Revel 2.0 journey. You'll have to come back on maybe, maybe Q4 or early next year and kind of update us on how it's going. I'm going to check out your website right now because I bought a gravel bike that I've just been absolutely loving this summer, but I think I might want a mountain bike as well. So I'm going to go look on Revel and check it out. If you're in the audience, you should go check out Revel now, especially that it's back under founder ownership. Adam, this is great. Thanks for coming back.
Adam Miller
Thanks a lot, Eric. Really appreciate it.
Eric Dick
Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. If you're not a subscriber to our newsletter, you can do that right now at directtoconsumeralloneword.
Adam Miller
Co.
Eric Dick
I'm Eric Dick and this has been the DTC podcast. We'll see you next time.
DTC Podcast Episode 523: Founder’s Dramatic Return to Revel Bikes
Release Date: July 7, 2025
In this compelling episode of the DTC Podcast, hosted by Eric Dick, listeners are treated to an exclusive update on Revel Bikes, a renowned direct-to-consumer (DTC) mountain bike brand. The episode delves into the dramatic turn of events where Adam Miller, the founder of Revel Bikes, buys back his company following its abrupt shutdown by a private equity (PE) firm. This detailed conversation provides invaluable insights into the challenges of scaling a business, the pitfalls of private equity ownership, and the resilient spirit of entrepreneurship.
Eric Dick opens the episode by informing listeners about the significant update regarding Revel Bikes. He references a previous deep dive into Adam Miller’s journey of building Revel Bikes from the ground up, highlighting the brand’s bootstrap beginnings, strategic use of home equity lines, and its eventual sale to a PE firm. However, the recent developments bring a new chapter as Adam re-acquires the company.
Notable Quote:
Adam Miller recounts the period following the sale of Revel Bikes to a private equity firm in late 2021. Initially, the partnership seemed promising, with the PE firm injecting capital to scale operations, including the establishment of a Taiwan warehouse and enhancing product development. However, differing management philosophies soon led to friction.
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
Just weeks after recording the original podcast, Adam received distressing news about Revel Bikes' impending closure. Despite initial success, the company defaulted on a significant loan from J.P. Morgan, leading to asset foreclosure. This decision by the PE firm was met with devastation from both Adam and the loyal customer base.
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
Determined to save his creation, Adam swiftly moved to buy back Revel Bikes from the bank. Navigating the high-stakes environment of a fast-tracked bankruptcy auction, he managed to secure ownership by outbidding other interested parties, including foreign and PE firms.
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
Under Adam’s renewed leadership, Revel Bikes is undergoing significant transformations to ensure long-term sustainability and align with his original vision.
Key Changes:
Notable Quote:
Adam reflects on the challenges faced during the shutdown and the re-acquisition process, emphasizing the resilience required to navigate such turbulent times. He acknowledges the additional work needed to restore public confidence and communicate the renewed vision of Revel Bikes.
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
Adam shares his nuanced perspective on private equity’s role in business growth. While acknowledging the capital and expertise they bring, he underscores the importance of aligning company culture and long-term vision.
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
As the episode concludes, Adam expresses optimism for Revel Bikes’ future. With a refocused strategy, streamlined operations, and a passionate customer base, Revel Bikes is poised for a successful resurgence in the DTC market.
Closing Remarks:
Notable Quote:
Final Thoughts
This episode serves as a powerful testament to the resilience and dedication of a founder committed to his vision. Adam Miller’s journey from building, selling, and repurchasing Revel Bikes offers valuable lessons on the complexities of scaling a business, the potential pitfalls of private equity ownership, and the enduring spirit of entrepreneurship. Listeners are left inspired by the tenacity required to reclaim and rejuvenate a beloved brand, ensuring its legacy continues.
For more insights and step-by-step tactical strategies on scaling direct-to-consumer brands, subscribe to the DTC Newsletter at directtoconsumer.co.