A Montreal lawyer is taking a leap of faith and leaving his job as a litigator to start a new business making electric skateboards, commonly known as e-boards.
His brand new company LaCroix Boards has already hit close to $1 million in sales — and there is no slowing down the new businessman.
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“That moment when our sales were enough we’re like ‘ok we need to do it,'” said Alex Archambault. “LaCroix has one single full-time employee and he’s right here in front of you.”
The 36-year-old traded in his law books for power tools after working 12 years as an intellectual property litigator. Three days into the job, he insists he has no regrets about leaving the field of law.
“It feels pretty damn good,” he said chuckling.
Archambault built his first prototype last summer and officially launched LaCroix Boards in March. His company is named after Montreal’s iconic cross on Mount Royal.
The state-of-the-art electric boards are made and assembled locally. What makes them stand out compared to other e-boards is its carbon fibre battery enclosure.
“It’s flexible, you can go faster, it’s much more stable,” Archambault told Global News.
“And it’s twice as wide as a regular skateboard.”
Business is already booming with orders coming in from around the world. The company has reached more than $700,000 in sales in the last four months.
The wheelchair tires make the e-boards pothole friendly, but they are pricey at $2,600 a piece. On the upside, Archambault says they are arguably one of the safest e-boards on the market.
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“I have two kids, right? So our main concern was making the safest most reliable board,” Archambault said. “All the electronics are tried and true parts.”
While they aren’t recommended for children, the target customer is avid snowboarders and skateboarders looking to up their game.
Most people use them to commute to work, but that’s something Archambault won’t need to do anymore. He assembles the e-boards in the comfort of his basement when he’s not outside testing them on the road.
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His next step is get his brother and co-founder on board full-time. In the meantime, he’s trying to enjoy the ride and still digesting the biggest move of his career.
“There’s always a leap of faith it’s that moment where you’re taking a huge risk,” he said.
“I’m still taking a huge risk because this is not a success story by any means yet — there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
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