Powersports Business Power Hour

Brendan chats with MIC's new president, Christy LaCurelle just after she has returned from the Capitol Hill Fly-In, which this year happened to take place April 7-8 as President Trump announced sweeping tariffs. We chat about tariffs, rider programs and other legislative efforts for the industry.

Brendan sits down with longtime powersports industry veteran and rental operator Rob Solem, who is the co-founder of RecSystems. This company uses AI to run your rental operations from marketing to bookings.

Most dealers are familiar with Ryan McFarland's other company, Strider Balance Bikes, but he also heads up another project that is very important to kids learning how to ride bikes in school. All Kids Bike was created to teach kids how to ride a bike as part of a school or church program. We discuss how it all got started.

Brendan talks with Sam Paschel, CEO of Zero Motorcycles, about the company's new strategy to unveil serveral new models under $10k by 2030. Paschel also discusses some dealer incentives and how easy they've made it to do business with Zero.

Nate Stickney acquired his first dealership in 2014 and now owns three locations in Florida. Driven a passion for improvement and growth, Stickney shares the changes he has made to boost the success of his teams and his dealerships.

Brendan sits down with the president of Moto Canada to discuss the impact proposed tarrifs on Canada may have on the powersports industry in both the U.S. and Canada. There is a lot at stake and French wants to make sure everyone is aware of what's involved.

Brendan interviews Chris Yeloushan and Pete Eppele of Rollick to see how their AI initiatives are progressing. They show us some of the nuts and bolts of how the platform can allow dealers to nurture leads through the sales funnel and into the dealership from online to in store.

Brendan interviews Broward Motorsports' Dealer Principal Sam Nehme and Rob Greenwald from Sam's man cave in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Sam is this year's recipient of the PSB Leadership Award that will be presented to him at Accelerate. He is also on Greenwald's panel about Generational Transfer and how young leaders can move up the ladder.

Brendan sits down for a conversation with Rob Hefner, senior vice president of powersports at APCO/Rider's Advantage to discuss the year ahead for dealers. This episode is brought to you by Synchrony.

Brendan interviews George Chaconas and Courtney Bernhard from Performance Brokerage Services about the state of the M&A segment in powersports. While the economy has been a challenger for many dealers, there are still deals to be made and George and Courtney share some tips.

Brendan chats with Maggie Stevens of ARS Powersports at the Parts NVP in Milwaukee. Stevens won a Women With Spark award in 2023 and has continued to grow her parts department by staying connected to what is current in the industry and going to events in person.

Brendan talks the future of electric motorcycles with Andy Leisner who has led a couple of startup e-moto companies and has been an industry stalwart for many years.

Brendan and Madelyn speak with Simon Milestone, founder and CEO of Dealer Academy. Milestone breaks down the Dealer Academy website/app and explains how its community and training are designed to benefit dealers.

Brendan talks with Eagle Rider's new CEO, Sebastian Schoepe about the brand and how he went from customer to CEO.

Madelyn Pegg speaks with dealers Mike Venziano and Misty Rohdes, his daughter. The owners discuss topics from F&I to partnerships with OEMs, to saying goodbye to Yamaha snowmobiles to working with family.

Madelyn Pegg chats with Sarah Walker, marketing director of Team Powersports, who shares how she found her dream job and how she makes the dealership memorable through social media. 

Brendan sits down with DX1 Customer Service Manager Anthony Azevedo to discuss the "Submit an Idea" feature request list option on their DMS system and how other features are developed on the platform.

For this episode of Power Hour, Brendan speaks with Luis Rojas, national sales manager of Keeway America. The company recently released some interesting new models, including a small-cc V-twin bike. And we talk about the recent acquisition of a legendary but dormant Italian brand, Morbidelli and how that is going.