Exclusive Interview: Thecomeup’s Adam Grandmaison

January 22, 2008 @ 5:03 PM by Mark Noble

Thecomeup's homepage a couple days ago...

One website that is definitely making waves in BMX on a daily basis is Thecomeup. Launched just a couple of years ago from the bedroom of Adam Grandmaison with a few stickers in Props videos and a seriously steep growth curve, Thecomeup's remit is amazingly simple - consider it a radar of all that's new on other BMX sites, news, and of course a ton of embedded video clips from all over BMX. If it's fresh in BMX, it's on Thecomeup. No wonder it's pretty much the number one site that BMXers log on to first - it's also backed up with a huge BMX-only forum. Suffice to say, this website is now MASSIVE. I thought it would be interesting to speak with the site's creator and owner, Adam Grandmaison, about how he puts it together, what goes on, and the future of BMX sites. For another exclusive interview about Thecomeup's first DVD launch, check out the new issue of the magazine, on sale now...

--MN

"First photo is of myself, Joof and some kid that lives across the street from me who rides, shot by Keith Romanowski."

RIDE: What are you doing today, then Adam?

ADAM: Well I'm answering these at 8:48pm so I've already done most of the stuff I'll do for the day. Today, I… Woke up, ate some oatmeal, drank a protein shake, took a diesel shit, checked Email and Thecomeupboard.com for a while, updated the site a few times. Then, did cardio for 25 minutes, went to the post office… met Muffinman and T-Shirt Dave at the L train, they came over, then Scallion, Spam and Day-Day all came over and watched some new videos for a while. Went riding in my neighbourhood for a while. Rode the flat rail spot and this ledge spot for a little bit, even though it's freezing and then rode home. Now they are watching videos while I do this, I'll probably spend some more time updating the site, then watch Project Runway with my girlfriend and her friend. I was going to go work out, but the gym closes at 11 so that's apparently not happening.

How long do you spend working on thecomeup website on a typical day?

Anywhere from two to ten hours per day. I probably average around four hours. If I didn't look at thecomeupboard.com it'd probably be less. Answering E-mails takes up more time than updating the actual site!

What about the forum and the myspace pages - do you work on those much?

The Myspace doesn't take any time, I hate looking at that shit so I set it up so you can't message it, I'd rather just answer E-mails. The forum definitely takes up some time, just making sure everything is going good and all that, it's not shit I have to do necessarily, but I read a lot of the posts and like to contribute as much as I can.

Who else do you have helping you on a regular basis - is it a team-work thing, how many people are there?

Pretty much just me, this dude Dario helps me out with updates sometimes and Kurt from bmxunion.com helped out when I went to Florida for a week recently.

So, where do you work from?

I work out of my ‘office’ in my apartment. Basically just a table, a chair, a computer and a shelf. Nothing too crazy.

Actually, do you consider it ‘work’ or a business even?

It's definitely work, but it's something I legitimately love doing, so even when I wake up to 50 E-mails and have to sit there for a few hours answering them all and posting shit when I don't want to, I still kinda like it. I worked my ass off on the site for a long time without ever even considering that it would make money, so it's obviously done for the love of it.

You do take ad money though, so from that standpoint, is it a business with a business model?

My grandfather worked his ass off for 50 years every day, on his feet, in a grocery store to support his family because he didn't have any other options. I have friends who are in jail because they felt like they didn't have any other option but to sell coke. So of course if I can make money doing something as stupid as updating a blog, I'm going to make as much as I can, while I can. I consider myself very blessed in that regard.

Have you been surprised by the popularity of your website?

To some extent. But I've worked really hard to promote it and make it worth checking, so I'm not that shocked.

What are your numbers like these days?

The main page gets like 12-13,000 unique visits every day. And I know that the board and the main page combined get about two million page views a month. I could see that number increasing a lot very soon.

What did you set out to do when you cranked up the website initially?

In the beginning, about two years ago, I just wanted to post all the good web videos that were online, since there was all kinds of good shit on BMXBoard that nobody was putting on websites.

Has that intention changed with time?

It's still the same, just a little bit more broad since I post interviews, news, etc. At this point I'm focused on growing the traffic on the messageboard, and keeping the main page going strong. Also, I'm integrating a small amount of non-BMX advertising which should ideally make the site drastically more profitable. BMX companies don't have a lot of money to throw around, so going outside of BMX for ad dollars is clearly the best route. But the site will always have BMX ads on it too, I'm happy that I can offer companies I dig advertising at a fraction of what they would pay to advertise in other venues.

What are your personal top five BMX websites?

Defgrip is the only other one I really f—k with. The Come Up is about quantity, Defgrip is about quality, and I definitely feel that Defgrip is the only other site on my level. There are a few other sites that I think do good stuff sporadically - Vital and Ride UK come to mind - but there aren't many.

What are your top five non-BMX websites?

Nah Right; Best hip hop blog going. XXLmag; I look forward to checking this site every day. B9board; Hardcore messageboard I've been reading and posting on for five-plus years. Usually it sucks, but sometimes it's hilarious... Google Analytics; I'm always analyzing my web traffic on there. Myspace too I guess.

How do you see things changing for BMX, online in the future?

YAUW is the future…

"Second photo is myself, drunk off my ass, proving to Muffinman that I could opposite 180 up the stairs, shot by Scott Marceau... haha!"

WEBSITE LINKS

The main site is here - www.thecomeupbmx.net

The forum is on fire here - www.thecomeupboard.com

And their myspace page is here - www.myspace.com/the_come_up


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