How the hell did I end up here. . .

It’s a question I’ve asked myself many times while going through the research, development, and launch of Kainui.

I’ve always believed that life has a way of putting you where you need to be, exactly when you need to be there. Looking back, that’s exactly how Kainui feels like it was born. Two people came into my life at just the right moments and gave me the push I needed. Sometimes I think about the odds of meeting the two people who would end up setting me on this path and I'm no betting man but they do seem pretty small to me.

The journey really started more than a year ago. I was searching for an idea, something that could turn a passion into freedom. Every direction I explored led to ideas that while I loved just didn't feel right. For months my mind wrestled with the problem, turning it over again and again without finding an answer. It wasn’t until an unplanned last minute surf trip, using up the last of my leave days, that the solution finally came.

There’s something to be said about being in the right place at the right time. A small seaside café. An unplanned coffee stop. A conversation with the café owner that started with surfing and somehow drifted into the story of where they had come from and why they had moved. When I walked away, something felt different. An idea had been planted in my head, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Slowly the pieces began to fall into place, not without plenty of head scratching and a new problem to solve almost every day.

Before I knew it, I had fallen down the rabbit hole, researching and learning about an industry I knew nothing about. The deeper I went, the more questions I had, and the whole time I kept thinking… this will probably never work.

The second push came when the idea had to become reality. When something that had only ever existed in my head suddenly had to take shape in the real world. It was a leap of faith into the unknown and sometimes you just have to take that step and put your money where your mouth is.

Even now I’m not sure if this is my baby, something born from an idea, or a beast that grew arms and legs and suddenly took off on its own. In reality, the truth probably lies somewhere in between.

I still look back sometimes and think about how far this journey has taken me. And every now and then, not very often, but sometimes, I still catch myself asking…

How the hell did I end up here?