An Original Idea - Sett Surf

Have you ever had an idea whilst sitting at your desk at work, an original idea that might, just might be amazing? You are pretty sure no one else has done this already and you slip away into a dream-like state, imagining success untold and money raining from the sky... Until one of your colleagues snaps you back awake to ask you something mundane. That is the second that you either have a Jerry Maquire moment, stand up, and walk out of the office shouting mad things including 'I quit' or you resign yourself to the inevitable trudge and battle on with your unchanged life.

It takes a lot of guts to do the Jerry thing, there is no holiday pay, no pension, no stock options... in fact why do it? I tell you why, for the hope and the chance of building something that is yours and something that you believe in, putting your money and time and career where your mouth is and making it work against all odds. Ooops, getting all Jerry again. What am I talking about? I am about to talk to a man who has recently done this minus the whole Jerry drama bit.

The last time I met James Marshall, he had been happy in his job working in an English bank doing something I can't quite remember, getting his surf holidays where he could, working to survive or so it seemed. Fast forward to today and we are both sitting on Supertubos beach in Portugal whilst the Rip Curl Pro Peniche is on, and James is telling me how he left his job, went travelling and is now about to launch his own company in the surf industry. The product is a skincare product like no other. I whipped out my phone, hit record and asked James a few questions which I will recount to you now.

SB: Hey James, thanks for letting me go on the record with this, what is the product and how did you come to be leading this new life?

James: Well the product started life as a surf rash cream, the idea came when I was in Hawaii for my 30th birthday celebrations and ended up surfing Waikiki on eleven foot Malibu’s which was incredibly fun but not what I normally ride. I got these gnarly rashes on both of my thighs from lying on the longboard and a bit under my arms, and I thought of all the places in the world, shops in Waikiki should have some kind of surf rash cream I could buy. At that point I was not really worried about stopping it, I was after something that was going to let me surf again otherwise tomorrow was going to suck.

I went for a walk around the shops and could not find anything to help. Then I had a quick look online and found some article that said to use Vaseline which I wasn't so keen on as I know it makes everything slippery and there is the whole petrol based thing that I will rant about later. So I put some Aloe Vera after sun cream on and made do, but that is when I had the idea to buying an existing rash cream, slap a 'surf label' on it and sell it to surfers. My next thought was that as I was going to all the trouble of that, maybe I can actually create a formula especially for surfers. That was a long time ago and the product has gone through many changes since then.

SB: Have you always had an inkling that you were going to go into business for yourself?

James: Yes, I always wanted to work for myself and I always thought that I wanted to work in the surf industry somehow. The last time I saw you (about a year ago) I had a couple of jobs that I was not really that happy with and I thought, now is the time, all I needed was the idea. That’s when I went to Hawaii and had the 'light bulb' moment.

SB: So where are you based right now, where is the cream going to be made/sold?

James: After I had finished travelling and had the 'light bulb' I actually went on this course in the UK with a company called Escape the City. They specialise in helping the transition for people who lead corporate lives that want to start up their own business or work for non-corporates, charities or social enterprises and the like. I also wanted to deal with people face to face as I had heard mixed stories about dealing with people over the phone. I wanted to be able to get in a car or on a train and go and see them if there were any problems. When I learnt the the EU regulatory standards are considered as the world's gold standard I thought, okay, it makes sense to develop in the UK to those standards and then I can sell to anywhere in the world. As for sales, it will be launched on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter, and then available on the website after that.

SB: Where did the name SETT come from?

James: A good friend of mine is very talented and works in branding, and he has been working on all the packaging for me. I spent a weekend with him nutting out what the name should be, we had about eighty odd names, some where terrible and some where actually pretty cool. At the end he said to shout more words out to him that had anything to do with surfing, so I was shouting 'wave', 'board', 'sand', 'set' as in a set of waves. We where thinking about 'set' but he thought it looked kind of lame and threw an extra t on the end and I immediately liked it.

SB: So down to brass tacks, how is your product different, why would I buy it?

James: Firstly, it was created specifically with surfers in mind, and helping them with surf rash, as well as other issues they face. It is also 100% natural, which was non-negotiable to me; most of the other stuff out there has 'white paraffin' in it which creates a thin film over the epidermal layer of your skin, and as a result helps your skin keep the moisture in and also keeps you protected from the elements. It is useful stuff but the issue I have have with it is that its not sustainable, it is a by-product of oil which I don't like from a purely personal perspective because there is the issue that the by-products of oil are refined to different standards. For example, Vaseline says that they have had all the carcinogens removed, but other products may not have removed them completely… you just never know, so why take the risk if there is the option of using something natural like an Aloe Vera plant. Totally natural and grows at the bottom of the garden.

SB: Is your product going to be less effective because it does not have white paraffin?

James: Not at all, in fact the ingredient list is packed with other beneficial products, so it does more than just retaining moisture. We use natural ingredients that perform the same role as white paraffin, the only thing is they are sustainable and maybe a little more expensive. The main reason people go for these petrol based or synthetic products is they are cheap, but my product, while being a little more expensive will actually perform better. Something like Vaseline, does not actually add anything to your skin, it just provides a protective layer to let your skin do its natural healing. My product will have anti-fungal, anti bacterial, microbial, essential oils, amino acids… I could go on, but what you need to know is it has all this other stuff to big up your skin as well as keep the moisture in there.

I don't want people just to buy it for the product, I want people to buy it for what I am trying to achieve as well. Surfers face the elements a lot and I think people are slowly waking up to the fact that they have a choice to what they put on their skin to protect it… and they need to look after their biggest organ. I have also set up a partnership with SurfAid to help support communities in Indonesia - it is something that I care about, and I believe my customers will care about too.

SB: Surf question. Can you remember your first surfboard and have you still got it?

James: I can remember my first board and no I don't still have it. My cousin worked for one of the big breweries and ended with a promotional piece of a 10ft mal and gave it to me. It was great to learn the basics but I ended up selling it and got myself a short board.

SB: At this point in the interview Kelly Slater pulled a huuuuge alley oop, landed in the flats and did not ride out of it but the beach went nuts. James and I both decided that we had enough material and that we would go and watch the king surf, as its not something you see everyday.

In summary though, I will be keeping a close eye on Sett Surf and waiting for the magic cream to hit the shelves. The whole idea of having after surf cream that feels good and does lots of healthy things to my skin does sound like something that I would spend a bit more money on.

Oh and the next time you have an idea when you are sat in the chair at work, think about doing what James did, who knows, your's could be a winner too.

Here is a link to the Sett Surf Kickstarter page that launched today.  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1635858957/sett-surf-rash-cream-soothe-the-burn-and-enjoy-eve?ref=nav_search