People always talk about fate in terms of love stories, but who knew it could be the magical ingredient in a skateboard partnership too?

Setting the Stage: It’s January 2017 and LeanBoard is still a small operation just coming off its first production run after receiving Kickstarter funding. Madrid Skateboards is a legend in the industry, established in the 1980s and currently manufacturing decks for some of the biggest skateboard companies out there.

The Fateful Event: Enzo Shinde, founder and chief engineer of LeanBoard is in Long Beach for the Agenda Trade Show. He and his team are looking for ways to broaden LeanBoard’s exposure and the massive show filled with skateboarding brands, buyers, investors, distributors, and media seems like a good place to start.

The Convention Center is HUGE, with over 250,000 square feet of booths, demonstrations, and exhibits, all packed with people. Enzo is loving it and wandering around with a Lean Board under his arm, checking out all the gear. On this portentous day, Enzo happens to stroll by the Madrid booth, when he hears a callout, “Hey man, nice board!”

Enzo turns around to see Alex Beton, CEO of Madrid Skateboards, eyeing the Lean Board. They start talking and Enzo tells him about the trucks and how the board works when Alex looks over his shoulder and says “Hey, boss, come check this out.” Before he knows it, Enzo is telling skateboarding legend and owner of Madrid Skateboards, Jerry Madrid, about Lean and their radical new board.

Both Alex and Jerry were duly impressed with Enzo’s crazy new product, so even though Madrid wasn’t looking to take on any new clients, they offered to manufacture LeanBoard’s boards.

The Happily Ever After: The LeanBoard Team squealed like little girls and enthusiastically accepted. Madrid began producing LeanBoard’s bamboo boards shortly thereafter and have taken over manufacturing of all their boards since then. The end.

Watch our appearance on Shark Tank to learn more!