Erik Huberman: So to start just tell us about what got you to be an entrepreneur? What was your inspiration to go and do your own thing?
‚Ä¢ Adam Koral: Alright well the inspiration to become an entrepreneur basically because I really didn't know …. I knew what I was good at. My skill set was having people enjoy themselves, making sure that people had a place to go, that they knew they could always rely on me taking care of them. Whether it was my house, or promoting a certain place, I wanted to do it on my own. I didn't want to have to answer to anyone else or rely on anyone else. I figured with my skillset I could do it better than anyone else. At a certain point you just get sick of working for other people and you say its time to take that leap. You know, I've got enough training, I know understand the business, and I know what I want for myself, for my future, and for my friends and family that have supported me up until now.
E: Cool. So tell us about Shorebar. How it fits into the scene? Give us some info on it.
‚Ä¢ A: So Shorebar we opened in May 2012. It was basically our way, my partners and I, of giving our friends on this side of town a place that they could call home. A bar that was up to all of our standard, that played good music, that had a great scene, that wasn't like every other bar in Santa Monica that's either a sports bar or a dive bar. We wanted a place that people could really go to that could elevate you know, what they do at night. To be able to take business partners, prospective business clients, a date, you know their family, a birthday, you know all those things in one…we wanted to open one place that could really support all of it and Shorebar was the perfect location. It was hidden far away from everything, kind of close to the beach, at the same time its next door to one of the best restaurants in the city, Giorgio Baldi. But really, we wanted to have a place that we could give to our non-west Hollywood, Hollywood type of friends that didn't feel like driving away from their comfort zone.
E: Got it. Cool. So Santa Monica you obviously chose because of the Westside. What do you think of the scene out here now with Silicon Beach and how it's kind of changed over the past few years?
• A: You know we were lucky enough to catch on as the scene was really picking up speed. But living here my whole life, we knew that Santa Monica and Venice and the whole Silicon Beach triadum is only growing, and it hasn't really started to blossom. So many new bars, restaurants, retail outlets are coming out here. It's a really big hotspot right now. I mean there's obviously a lot of money that comes with the territory of silicon beach but its also like-minded individuals that are coming out on a limb to start their own business, they might fail. We opened shorebar with the chance that no one came, you know that it might fail as easily as any startup or any tech company would too. And we treat people, all of customers who are heavily involved in that industry just as much as we treat ourselves. We want everyone to kind of feel like this is their home because we are a startup too. We treat our business like a startup.
E: Makes sense. So what advice would you have to an entrepreneur ? Like one key point that you would, someone who is going to start their own thing or looking to?
• A: What I would give advice to someone starting their own business, looking to become an entrepreneur, is really just never stop. Never ever think that you've made it because once that you think you are happy is when someone else will do better than you. Someone else is never going to stop grinding, is always going to try and outdo, so never quit. Always do more, always keep going. You're never successful enough. Other than that, personal side that's what I would say. On the other side you always want to make sure your customer is happy and that they want to come back for whatever product you are putting out there whether its an application, a good, or a service, you want that customer, you want to use them again.
E: Makes sense. So how is your company changing the world?
• A: I believe that shorebar among some others is changing the world slowly. We are introducing what's more of a laid back culture to what was has previously been known as very uptight and snobby in the cocktail community so you either have your clubs that are very hard to get into, too cool for school and then you also have your craft cocktail bars that take five minutes to take a drink and the bartender won't give you a drink if you want a vodka Red Bull. We are kind of taking both of those worlds and putting it in an area in where its redefining itself as well. As Santa Monica and the Westside is being redefined by all these entrepreneurs and all these new businesses, we are kind of redefining the food and beverage world to fit it.
T: And is there something you would like to share announce with the people of Santa Monica?
‚Ä¢ A: Well first I would like to share my thanks for all the support over the past two years. I mean, Shorebar wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the local community. We thrive on that and we do our best to be there for it. As far as new things for Shorebar that I can share with you is we are looking to really build our weeknights. We have a lot of really cool music coming in on Thursday. We do, we try to have that new disco deep house, which is great … it's caught on. Its probably the biggest new wave of music coming up in pop culture. We have a couple things we are doing, a Sunday day party type of thing in the summer, after memorial day, so you can look out for that. So pretty much Tuesday - Sunday we are open and rocking and ready for people to come in and drink and listen to some good music.
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