Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Building International Partnerships and Electric Innovations: Dr. Jay Luis Aguilar's Chance Rides Story

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Building International Partnerships and Electric Innovations: Dr. Jay Luis Aguilar's Chance Rides Story · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:12
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:15
adversity. My name is Anthony Codispodi and
0:18
today's guest is Doctor J Luis Aguilar.
0:21
Born and raised in Mexico City, Jay started as an
0:25
electromechanical engineer. While he dreamed of working in
0:29
the amusement industry, specifically designing rides
0:33
like roller coasters, today he is living his dream.
0:36
He serves as the Global Vice President of Business
0:39
Development at Chance Rides. They are an amusement ride
0:42
manufacturer based in Wichita, KS with over 60 years of
0:47
experience. They have delivered more than
0:49
3000 rides worldwide including trains, trams, carousels, and
0:54
roller coasters. Under Jay's leadership, the
0:57
company has participated in major industry events and earn
1:01
recognition for its commitment to safety and innovation.
1:05
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1:50
All right, back to our guest today, Global VP of Business
1:53
Development and Marketing at Chance Rides, J Luis Aguilar.
1:58
J Thanks for making the time to Share your story today.
2:00
Thank you so much for having me. I am looking forward to have a
2:05
great conversation and once again, thank you for having me
2:08
and thank you for that fantastic introduction.
2:11
Absolutely. So, Jay, born in Mexico City,
2:15
you started out as an engineer, but in the automotive industry
2:21
you always had this huge attraction to amusement rides.
2:23
What first sparked that interest?
2:27
You know, it is something that I can explain.
2:29
I just remember that when my parents, they were taking us to
2:34
the zoo or the amusement park, I just had the idea that I like
2:41
humans behaving when they are having the family at the
2:46
amusement park. I was always attracted to that
2:49
we were. I thought I was actually having
2:52
a great moment and over time you really realize you are building
2:55
memories. So that idea really took me from
2:59
early during my life. So yes.
3:03
So you didn't start out in amusement rides, you started out
3:06
in the automotive industry? So what had happened is
3:09
electromechanical, as you mentioned, electromechanical
3:11
engineered by training. And I was having those thoughts,
3:16
right? I'd really would like to work
3:17
for a company doing amusement rides.
3:20
And it's just like life is funny.
3:24
My first job out of college was actually working in the
3:27
automotive industry. So I too, I worked for that
3:30
industry for many years and then it happened that probably after
3:36
20 years, one of the teammates at the company that I was
3:41
working at the time told me that Chance, they were looking for
3:45
AVP of Sales and Chance, just so you know, they build a roller
3:49
coaster for Six Flags Mexico and still today that coaster has the
3:54
highest ridership in the Six Flag system.
3:57
So obviously the name was very familiar to me.
4:00
So. So here I am in Wichita, KS,
4:05
right? Life is about trade-offs.
4:07
And yeah, I certainly moved from Nashville to Wichita, but
4:10
literally living my dream. So that's how I did me try my
4:14
transition from all the industry to the amusement industry.
4:18
And so the way that this door opened is a friend just happened
4:22
to notice or be aware that Chance Rides was hiring.
4:25
Yes, exactly. That's exactly how it happened.
4:29
And we, we, we, we connect. We connect through linking.
4:34
And well, here I am, eight years after I joined the company back
4:38
in October 2017. OK.
4:41
And so let's go into a little bit more detail about what it is
4:45
that you guys do there. So roller coasters are we
4:48
talking about like the big huge giant ones or maybe the smaller
4:52
ones that are a little more suitable to my kids?
4:54
Yes, exactly. So one of the products that we
4:58
do are only roller coasters, but perhaps that is not the bread
5:03
and the border for the company. So to give you a little idea,
5:06
the company actually was created based on one product and this
5:10
product is the CP Huntington train, a replica of the CP
5:14
Huntington train. And then after that the the
5:17
family owner of the company at the time they were able to
5:21
penetrate different market such as the carousels wheels and one
5:27
of them was roller coasters, right.
5:29
That in the way we penetrate that market was actually through
5:33
an acquisitions back in the early 2000s, they acquired a
5:38
company called Morgan. Morgan was a company doing
5:41
roller coasters. By purchasing or acquiring
5:47
Morgan, we were able to penetrate that market.
5:50
Obviously we have done coasters after that acquisition as
5:54
chance, but that's exactly how we penetrate that market and
5:58
it's just one of the products that we do.
6:00
We don't do the big, big ones. So there are companies that they
6:04
are the the big boys doing roller coasters and we we don't
6:09
compete with those guys. We do.
6:12
I'm going to say for a small and medium sized amusement parks
6:16
like the one in Kentucky Kingdom, the one in Kentucky,
6:18
the park, the park name is Kentucky Kingdom, the line run,
6:22
that's a coaster that we did about that size of coasters is
6:27
primarily what we do when it comes to coasters.
6:30
And so when the acquisition of Morgan was made, did you
6:34
maintain their production facility wherever that is or did
6:36
you bring it into Wichita, KS to Wichita?
6:39
Kansas What It was happening at a time in California, it was
6:43
primarily the brain, the design, the the the the technical
6:49
portion of it and the manufacturing came right away to
6:51
Wichita, KS. OK, but you got your start
6:57
chance rides did in the replica of this CP Huntington train?
7:01
Yes. Give me any idea that the size
7:04
of this train? Like I've been to a zoo where
7:06
there's a train where my family and I get in and it rides
7:09
around. Or like I go to the pumpkin
7:11
patch and there's like a really small one that like my kids get
7:14
in and it just kind of goes round and round in a circle.
7:17
All right, so actually both. If you go to a zoo, remind me
7:21
again where are you located? I'm in Columbus, OH.
7:25
Or a Columbus, for instance, if you go to the Columbus Zoo and
7:28
you get on that train that is actually over replica of the CP
7:32
Huntington train, that is a chance train, right?
7:35
That is the size of the trains that we do today.
7:39
Now going back to the pumping patch that they go around and
7:43
around, earlier in the history of the company, we used to do a
7:49
smaller trains in what we call gauge number 12 and #16 and #20.
7:55
Nowadays the only gauge that we do is gauge 24.
7:59
So just so you know, what we describe as the gauge is the
8:03
distance between the tracks. So back in the 70s, sixteen and
8:10
20 was the traditional regular size of a train, a smaller
8:14
trains as the time progress and also for safety reasons when you
8:20
have a wire support is more difficult to have incidents,
8:26
right. So what we know today is 24, but
8:30
yeah, the company created a train back in 1961 already in
8:35
Gage 24. So both of them we do, or we did
8:40
in the past, the smaller trains. Gotcha.
8:43
And I've always wondered when I go to that pumpkin patch,
8:45
obviously they're not using that little train year round, but do
8:48
they still own it? Or was there some sort of a
8:50
lease program like, hey, we're send it to you for a few weeks,
8:54
you send it back and you know, how does that work?
8:57
Yeah. You know, as far as I know in
8:59
the history of the company, we have not done leasing.
9:04
So when we deliver a train is after we do a contract and we
9:11
get a deposit. So we don't we don't do leasing.
9:15
Got it. Yes.
9:17
And as I understand now, today what you're really known for are
9:21
the carousel rides. I'm going to say that we are
9:24
known by I'm going to say that the three the three core
9:27
products, trains, carousels and tramps.
9:31
The carousel however has become the product that anywhere from
9:38
the local zoo all the way to the big boys like Universal, they
9:43
they come to us, right. So the carousel has been perhaps
9:47
the the the top performer when it comes to curative intent and
9:54
complexity of the products that we do.
9:57
Complexity of the product, say more about that.
9:59
Seems like it's pretty simple, just, you know, some wooden
10:02
horses going around in a circle. But I'm overlooking something
10:05
here. Yes, yes.
10:08
If you have, have you had the chance to to be see Universal
10:12
Orlando for instance? No, I haven't.
10:16
All right, so. On Sea World, Sure.
10:20
All right. So if we think in terms of the
10:23
carousel, we all human beings, you hear the word carousel and
10:28
you think the classic carousel only horses going around very
10:34
simple machine. That's it, right?
10:37
With the time and especially once again with those big
10:40
companies, they do have a large team with the the team task is
10:49
creative intent. If you think about it, those
10:52
guys, they own a lot of IPS, right?
10:55
And I'm going to give you one example, Universal, they own the
10:59
IP for Kung Fu Panda, right? When they were working on the
11:03
master planning for Universal in Beijing, one of the IP's they
11:09
wanted to work on was Kung Fu Panda.
11:12
So we worked with them to create a carousel that actually shows
11:18
the character of the movie of Kung Fu Panda.
11:21
So at that point you add a lot of complexity to the machine,
11:27
right? You have to create these
11:31
carousel creatures slash figures where they provide perhaps the
11:36
original concept like the Kung Fu Panda, right, the Kung Fu,
11:39
the main figure of the of the picture.
11:42
But then you have to what is the final design in order for that
11:48
creature to have a human being on it as part of the?
11:54
Carousel So I'm not riding a horse, I'm riding a character
11:58
from this movie. Exactly right.
12:00
And then once again, they do have a large team of creative
12:05
people that they come with very creative ideas.
12:10
For instance, the Kung Fu Panda carousel, the lighting of that
12:14
carousel is quite unique. So you have to come with this
12:18
new design. If the principle is is still a
12:22
carousel that maybe doesn't really look like a carousel, but
12:26
it's still a carousel, but the design that goes into it is
12:31
significant, right? That's one example.
12:33
The other example is the Minions carousel that was also created
12:37
and built for Universal in Sentosa in Singapore.
12:41
Imagine we did the carousels with the teaming of the minions.
12:47
Imagine that you are getting on a machine that has minions and
12:50
kids are getting on them to actually.
12:53
Have that writing the minion character right?
12:56
So it is easy, it sounds very simple and we all think about
13:01
the classic simple carousel. They can become very, very
13:05
complex machines, yeah. Well, isn't, I'm thinking just
13:10
about the classic, you know, with the horse, You know,
13:12
they're actually very. Ornate you know that I'm
13:14
thinking back there's a lot of artwork there's a lot of
13:18
artistic design that goes even into the the typical horse ones.
13:23
Yes, you are absolutely correct. Or what artists actually we have
13:29
to tell them how many hours they can spend on each of the figures
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depending of on the label of hours that they can spend.
13:39
I we are using one word artist, right?
13:43
An artist isn't the way they express themselves, right?
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So if you give an artist 1000 hours or painting one figure,
13:52
they're going to spend that and more time, right?
13:55
But obviously everything is related to money.
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So we need to give them, Hey, you know what, for this specific
14:00
level client is paying these many hours, right?
14:04
So and everything is can painted.
14:07
Every single every single from the most basic horse to the most
14:12
sophisticated minion or Kung Fu Panda is hand painted.
14:18
Wow, what's maybe the most surprising thing that people
14:23
don't know about manufacturing? Amusement park rides in general.
14:28
I want to say the perhaps what you just expressed a few minutes
14:32
ago. They look very simple from the
14:34
outside, but once you start looking at everything that goes
14:39
into into the attraction, from the mechanical structure all the
14:44
way to the hand painting art they don't see.
14:50
It's hard for the people to picture all that together, how
14:53
they come all together. How about the rides that I see,
14:59
like a neighborhood festival where, you know, I think the
15:03
group is traveling with them from one city to the next?
15:06
Do you manufacture these? Yes.
15:07
For a couple of decades, Chan's was perhaps the largest
15:14
manufacturer for those attractions, what we call
15:18
portable and also known as the carnival market.
15:23
You have one carnival going to X city, they are there for two
15:27
weekends and then they move to the next.
15:29
We need a lot of those. Once again, for probably 20-30
15:33
years, 80% of the revenue was coming from that specific
15:37
segment. We need a couple of icon
15:41
attractions. I'm not sure if you remember of
15:44
you did get on the seeper. The seeper is, is, is is is was
15:52
created and manufactured by chance and that was and this is
15:57
still an icon portable carnival ride.
16:03
So we did a lot of those. And yes, giving you answer to
16:06
your question, yes, we did a lot of those for many years.
16:09
Not so much anymore. Not so much anymore and we
16:14
didn't exit that market intentionally has been a little
16:18
bit of want to say economics right.
16:24
In America as you know we have some some conditions that we
16:28
cannot compete with perhaps some conditions that they they do
16:32
have either in Europe or perhaps in Asia Pacific.
16:36
So pricing was the thing that actually didn't help us to keep
16:43
at the portable mark. Now we are trying actually to
16:45
get back into that segment, by the way.
16:48
You're saying that's something that maybe some countries that
16:50
have lower labor costs because these are smaller portable rides
16:54
that almost transformed down into this, you know, compact
16:57
space that's a little bit easier to put on an ocean freighter and
17:00
bring over here. Yes, yes, that is correct.
17:04
So you're an engineer, you got your dream job, you're working
17:09
at chance rides with roller coasters.
17:11
But as I understand it, you're not on the engineering side,
17:15
you're on the sales side. I am actually, and if that's OK
17:18
with you, I would like to walk you how I did my transition.
17:22
So I start working for this German company, part of the
17:25
automotive industry. And so I was actually hired as
17:31
technology development engineer. So my job was actually was
17:36
developing a suspension system for Nissan at the time for the
17:40
Sentra. So here I am working on that
17:43
specific system for Nissan. And then the account manager for
17:49
that account got sick. So got sick like the day before.
17:55
We were traveling to Tokyo for a big commercial presentation for
17:59
this suspension system. So the director of the technical
18:06
team came to me and said, hey, we have a situation here.
18:11
And the situation is that the account manager cannot travel
18:14
with you. You got to do it yourself.
18:17
Is that something that you can handle it or do we need to
18:20
reschedule the meeting? And I said, you know what?
18:23
I can't handle it and have no issue at all.
18:25
So I traveled by myself to Tokyo and did the whole presentation.
18:31
I was obviously a little bit guided by how to manage the
18:35
commercial side. And with that experience, I
18:40
learned that this is something that I want to do for the rest
18:44
of my life. It went back at the time, still
18:48
in Mexico City, and I said to my former CEO, well, good news and
18:55
bad news, good news. Everything was fantastic.
18:59
We got the deal, Bad news. That is something that I would
19:03
like to do for the rest of my career.
19:05
And he was very supporting. He said, you know what, I'm with
19:08
you. I'm going to support you.
19:09
And that's something that you would like to do?
19:11
Absolutely. So why I did my transition, I, I
19:17
saw that having a technical background actually helps you to
19:22
answer commercial questions because most of the times they
19:25
are related to the technical aspect of so and well, here I am
19:30
doing the commercial side. Some engineers, they tell me,
19:33
why did you cross to the dark side, right.
19:40
But it's something that I enjoy. I'm going to say, and I'm going
19:42
to admit that today I do have a good understanding of what we
19:47
do. If somebody has a deep technical
19:50
question, I admit I need help from one of the technical guys.
19:55
They, this is a little bit too technical for me.
19:57
I need your help, right? So.
19:59
But that's how I did my transition and this is how I
20:01
love what I do. So if it hadn't been for that Co
20:05
worker getting sick at Nissan all those years ago, you never
20:08
would have gotten to dip your toe in the water.
20:11
Probably, probably. You're right.
20:13
It's just, you know, life. Life is full of surprises.
20:17
So what? Went down in that first sales
20:20
encounter overseas because you came back and you were energized
20:25
by it to the point where it's like that's what I want to do.
20:27
I mean, for most people when they get their first taste in a
20:30
sales role, it's intimidating. You're up in front of people,
20:33
it's high pressure quotas to me, etcetera, etcetera.
20:36
But there was something in just that one visit on your own
20:40
without, you know, somebody there to help and support and
20:42
guide you. What happened?
20:45
Walk us through it and. I know it was a mix of, first of
20:49
all, we are talking about the Japanese culture.
20:51
They are very respectful people, very respectful and that
20:58
obviously but was a big help and something that I really took
21:03
into consideration, right. The product that we were
21:08
discussing at the time, I did know very well what we were
21:14
talking about. So I was full prepared for that
21:19
meeting. I was dealing with people that
21:23
they were very respectful to every single question, every
21:26
single answer. And most importantly, I learned
21:32
that when you understand the technical aspect, you can
21:36
actually help the commercial side.
21:39
And what I mean is when you know the nuances of the technical
21:42
aspect, you can perhaps a little bit sell it better because you
21:47
have a good understanding of the product as as a whole.
21:50
So that's what happened. It was a combination of
21:54
multiple. Factors.
21:56
So we've talked a little bit about the history of Chance
21:59
Rides, some of the changes the acquisitions made along the way.
22:03
How did the company first get started?
22:06
The company was started by a family members Harold.
22:12
Harold Chance was generation #1HE used to work for a company
22:16
called Auto Way. Auto Way was a company doing
22:19
steam trains, right? Obviously, I didn't have the
22:23
chance to interact with the family at the time.
22:27
I made the assumption that Harold got tired of working for
22:30
somebody else and decided to create his own company, and he
22:36
came with the idea of doing this replica of the CP Huntington
22:38
train. Back in the late 1900s, CP
22:42
Huntington was a very popular engine.
22:45
Engine #2 was the, the, the, the engine that made CP Huntington
22:51
very popular. Engine #2 is actually still in
22:54
Sacramento, inside of that museum in Sacramento.
22:57
So he created this train, this replica, and I was told by the
23:03
chance who is generation #2 that his dad talked to him and said
23:09
if we do 10 or 20 of these, that's great success.
23:13
Well, here we are, 60, almost 65 years after building Unit 439,
23:20
right? So that was the origin of the
23:23
company, the CP Huntington. And today the specialty is
23:28
trams, carousels, trains. This is a naive newbie question,
23:33
but what's the difference between a tram and a train?
23:36
All right, the train, by definition, you have tracks,
23:38
right? Like the one that you go to
23:41
Columbus Zoo, you get on on the train and the train has to have
23:46
tracks, right? So that's the difference.
23:50
The train has tracks. The tram.
23:53
The tram is if you go for instance to, I'm going to say to
23:58
a large amusement park in Florida, right?
24:02
Traditionally that park is going to be packed.
24:06
That the size, I'm going to give you one example.
24:08
For instance, if you go to Hollywood in Tennessee, right,
24:12
the size of the parking lots are huge.
24:16
If you get to the park by 10:00, most likely you're packing, the
24:19
spot is going to be anywhere between 1/4 of a mile all the
24:25
way to 1 mile away from the main entrance.
24:28
So you get up your car, you walk to the closest station, you wait
24:33
for the tram. The tram doesn't have track, is
24:36
just what we usually buy is a Ford chassis, and then we do the
24:40
conversion to the tram and you get on the tram, they take you
24:43
from your station all the way to the main entrance, but it
24:46
doesn't have a track. That's the main difference.
24:50
OK, now I can visualize it. They do something similar at the
24:53
Columbus Zoo, right? Yeah, if you're parked a ways
24:56
back, sometimes they're running this little shuttle looking
24:59
train, but there's no track. So there is no track.
25:03
Yeah. OK.
25:03
So we talked about how the company got started.
25:06
Here we are 60 years and 3000 rides later, it's been, you
25:12
know, through different generations, different forms of
25:15
leadership. It's not easy to do what?
25:18
From your vantage point, what do you believe is the biggest
25:21
factor behind the companies enduring success?
25:25
You know, I'm going to say that innovation has been one of the
25:29
main factors keeping the, the, the company where we are today
25:33
after almost 65 years, right. And I mentioned almost because
25:37
this coming year 2026 is going to be over 60 feet anniversary
25:42
by the way. So I'm going to say innovation
25:46
and evidently the family really took care of the employees,
25:51
right? That's something that definitely
25:54
helped the the company to stay. And I'm going to say that the
25:59
family was able to navigate some, some, some heart
26:05
conditions, right, like the last recession we had back in 2008
26:13
overly through the pandemic. Prior to that in in early
26:17
2000's, the company used to do financing to the carnival
26:22
markets. And then you might recall that
26:25
also at that time we did have an economic downturn.
26:29
And so the the company struggle, but the family was able to
26:33
navigate in a way that they were coming out on the other side of
26:38
the tunnel. So yeah.
26:40
And so it's still a family owned company.
26:42
No, you know what happened. I'm going to walk you through
26:46
this. I do believe is relevant and
26:48
it's important. So family was running the
26:52
business generation number two generation #3 start taking over
26:57
back in 2000, the oldest of the kids.
27:01
And then it just happened that in 2016, it was 2016, the family
27:08
loss, the member that was taking over the business, right?
27:13
So the youngest kid didn't want to be part of the business.
27:18
And then at that time, the youngest kid told his dad, I'm
27:23
going to join the company, but I'm going to join to help you
27:28
out to sell the business. So at that point, they hire back
27:34
in July 2017, Aaron, Aaron Landrum, who is they hire him as
27:40
the president. And then right after they hire
27:43
me, we did both have experience doing transactions.
27:48
So the idea was, guys, we need your help.
27:52
We need to, we need your help to find a buyer for the company
27:57
because generation #3 is not interested.
27:59
So Erin and I, we, we work with family to be able to do the,
28:04
the, the, the first of all the, the, the, let's say a nice
28:09
organization here and then as well as finding the right
28:12
partner. And then back in 2023, we were
28:16
acquired by a permanent equity group out of Columbia, MO.
28:20
So the family is no longer a family business is not.
28:24
We are part now of a private equity group and I'm going to
28:27
emphasize non traditional private equity group.
28:31
And what I mean by that is traditional private equity group
28:36
they buy, they flip, they sell anywhere between 18 months to
28:41
probably five years permanent. That's the reason why the name
28:45
is permanent. They do say they feel a
28:49
generational gap, meaning the investments are for the long
28:53
term, anywhere between 30 years to 50 years.
28:56
So non traditional private equity group.
28:58
That's very non traditional. And Jay, you said something that
29:02
caught my attention. You said that you had experience
29:04
in transactions. Yes, I think maybe we skipped
29:07
over that part of your career. Yes, a little bit intentionally,
29:10
by the way. OK, Intentionally something
29:14
where we want to leave in the rearview mirror.
29:15
No. No, no, I have no issue.
29:17
You know, what happens is that when you have some experience
29:20
working with some traditional private equity groups, people
29:24
see you in a different way. And the reason why is because,
29:27
well, what they do is they make a lot of money, right?
29:31
But at the same time in, and I'm not talking about any specific,
29:37
I'm just talking in general, it's money, money, money, right?
29:41
And yes, I did, I did taste that world.
29:45
And it's just that I was like, whoa, this is a little bit too
29:51
transactional for me. You know, and sometimes in life
29:55
we have to try on hats, not only to find what fits, but to find
29:59
what doesn't. Yes.
30:00
So you found a hat that didn't fit, but boy did it give you
30:03
some good experience that came in later on.
30:05
Oh. Absolutely, absolutely.
30:07
And you know what, you didn't ask this question, but I'm going
30:10
to offer my point of view working with permanent has been
30:12
fantastic is a three truly known traditional PES.
30:18
They obviously they guide us, they they help us and the idea
30:22
is to grow the business. Absolutely, right.
30:25
So it has been fantastic so far. So, yeah.
30:28
So I kind of intentionally left that part outside.
30:33
That's all right. So, OK.
30:35
So this private equity group that you're a part of now, do
30:40
they focus specifically in the, I don't know, entertainment ride
30:44
space or are they just looking for good businesses in any
30:48
industry? I want to say that the the
30:50
diverse portfolio they they have is not specifically just for
30:55
amusement attractions. They do own from much making
31:03
services all the way to chance rights and they read and
31:09
anything in between, right. So they don't have one specific
31:12
industry that they go after my understanding obviously I have
31:16
limited technology of if they are looking for a specific
31:20
industries. But with the limited information
31:23
that I have, I know that the portfolio is well diversified.
31:28
So you've been with Chance Ride since 2017?
31:31
Yes, you brought more than two decades of experience in
31:36
manufacturing, sales, engineering transactions.
31:40
Now I understand. Is there a key moment or project
31:45
when that diverse skill set came together to help drive a
31:51
breakthrough or advancement at chance rides?
31:55
I'm going to say yes, because I did have a lot of international
31:58
experience though. And so being able to penetrate
32:01
different segments and bringing some companies that we are able
32:07
to collaborate with those moments is where the previous
32:13
experience, they came together. At the end of the day, we are
32:17
today who we are because of what we did in the past or decisions
32:23
as we made in the past, right. So you are absolutely right,
32:26
that combination of experience, they came together for
32:30
penetrating new markets, they came together for having
32:34
relationships with some companies that we can
32:36
collaborate with is when that happened.
32:40
How about maybe a particular challenge like a complex
32:45
engineering issue or a tight deadline, something challenging
32:50
that you had to work through on the professional front and how
32:54
sort of your creative problem, problem solving came about to
32:56
help that? Yes.
32:58
So I'm going to give you perhaps a couple of examples, but I'm
33:02
going to focus perhaps in the first one that came to my mind.
33:05
So we are part of different organizations in the continental
33:09
US. One of them is ACAACA stands for
33:14
Aquariums and SUS Association of America, right, is where all the
33:18
SUS and aquariums they, they are as a group together, right?
33:22
And it's an association, you have to be accredited to be part
33:26
of that group, right? And this is a perfect example.
33:30
Let me tell you why it happened at Columbus Zoo.
33:34
So traditionally we have one conference, annual conference,
33:39
and that conference is in September, and it moves from one
33:43
zoo to the next one. And see, so a few years ago,
33:47
about four years ago or three years ago, I should say, the ACA
33:52
annual conference was in Columbus, OH.
33:55
So here I am working with them on this electric train since
34:01
year and a half prior to that year.
34:05
So the VP called me and said hey Jay, how soon can you be here?
34:12
As soon as you need me. Well, can you be here?
34:16
It was a Friday and he said she said can you be here Tuesday?
34:19
Absolutely, I can be there. So Jay, you got the deal if you
34:26
can deliver that train 2 weeks prior to ACA and that was
34:31
something in May, right? So what time span are we talking
34:35
from October to May? Did I hear that right?
34:38
OK this. Is from, from, well, think about
34:40
enough from May placing the contract in May and delivering
34:44
that product kind of meet August.
34:47
It was a very challenging point. What's the typical delivery
34:51
time? Six months, OK.
34:53
Six months. So now you're going from May to
34:55
August, which is June, July, that's three months.
34:57
It's half the time. He was very challenging.
35:00
So I said, you know what, as much as I want to have the deal,
35:05
I have to have a video conference or at least a
35:07
conference call with two key people in the company.
35:10
Obviously my boss, the CEO as well as the operations manager,
35:14
if they if I am able to sell them then we can commit.
35:20
So I asked for some timing said give me, give me an hour.
35:23
You let me, let me, let me go to my car, let me have this
35:25
conference call. So evidently have this tough
35:29
conversation with with Aaron and Jeremy.
35:32
Guys, this is the situation. This is what we have.
35:35
If we are able to, we got the deal and then well you know
35:42
timing wise there is no way that we can make it happen, right.
35:48
And as you mentioned before you start thinking how do I solve
35:51
this issue and I knew that I had another contract that they were
35:56
not going to be ready for the timing that they were asking the
35:58
train for. So I said guys, if I am able to
36:04
talk to X company and they lay that one so that to some extent
36:11
we can actually switch part of the building and as long as they
36:17
buy and we do have an approval from the older buyer.
36:20
Are you guys, oh, if you made that happen, we can we we're on
36:26
it. So right now you've got your
36:28
internal team bought into this, now you have to go to the two
36:31
different clients and get them to buy into it.
36:33
Yes. So that that was a challenging
36:36
project. That was an interesting
36:38
experience. Thankfully the things were as we
36:45
intended. So the older the other buyer,
36:48
they were like we have no issue. We are not going to be ready for
36:52
the delivery of the train until this time.
36:54
So yes, we can make it happen. Obviously from the legal point
36:57
of view, we have to do all the legal documents and just making
37:00
sure that every time was OK. So, and that's how we made it
37:03
happen. So.
37:06
I love that. Yes, it created problem solving.
37:09
So we talked about trams and you educated me on the difference
37:12
between trams and trains. And now I understand that you
37:16
guys have moved into E trams. These are electric trams.
37:21
It is 100% electric tram. Let me tell you, we came with
37:26
first because this is a result of the experience with the
37:30
electric train. So we used to the CP Huntington
37:34
fossil fuel meaning diesel or gasoline and propane.
37:39
And then back in 2017 at the time that I joined the company,
37:44
we came with the electric CP Huntington, which now we have,
37:48
we have been doing the electric train since 2017.
37:52
So to some extent we were reacting to the to the market.
37:57
They were asking us when are you guys coming with the electric
38:02
tram. Obviously developing a product
38:05
100% from scratch, it takes time and it takes a lot of money,
38:10
right. So what we did actually we
38:14
worked together with a company out of Sweden.
38:18
So they, they did develop the technology and we do the
38:23
manufacturing. So we just came a perfect match.
38:29
They did the development, we did the manufacturing.
38:31
Now we do the manufacturing. So it's 100% electric.
38:37
There are we have a couple of advantages versus some other
38:40
people is you can literally plug it on the wall of your house 100
38:44
and 2048 volts and we have solar panels on the roof and we the
38:51
couples that we have out there, we know that 80% of the battery
38:55
is back from or through the solar panels.
38:59
So that is the latest and greatest product that we came to
39:03
the market with literally we the first one we delivered was back
39:08
two weeks prior to Memorial weekend.
39:10
It's barely. It's primarily.
39:12
Still brand new. It's brand new and you explain
39:17
to me the complexity of it because you said you had to
39:19
completely design something from scratch.
39:23
In my tiny little non engineering brain, it seems
39:26
like, well, at least you can use the same chassis and but now
39:30
you're taking out what was it like a diesel engine before?
39:32
What powered it in the past? In the past, well for the for
39:35
the for the for the train was diesel, gasoline and propane.
39:39
OK. For the for the all.
39:41
Three or you had three different models for each one of those
39:44
fuel tires? Same shape, just different
39:47
sources of powering. Yep.
39:49
Got it. And so to me, I'm thinking, OK,
39:52
you've got one that you had propane, one that's gasoline,
39:55
one that's diesel and you're taking out, I don't know, a
39:58
chunk of componentry and. But it sounds like switching out
40:02
for the electric version was not quite so simple.
40:06
It was not just swapping between diesel and propane exactly.
40:10
That is you just you just thought exactly the baseline
40:15
problem that we had to solve, right you come.
40:19
The only thing that you have is you know what your limitations
40:22
are when it comes to this is the space that I have to work with
40:25
to develop an electric CP Huntington train with the tram.
40:32
Once again, it was we thought, you know what, this is going to
40:35
take a lot of time and a lot of money.
40:37
So that's why we found that the company in Sweden, they ready
40:41
the development of the technology.
40:42
Hey, we assume the manufacturing, right?
40:45
So going back to your point, yeah, it's very complex when you
40:49
are actually thinking of a new product, knowing that you want
40:55
to do the same shape of the replica of the previous product.
41:00
Now instead of using fossil fuel power, you want to use batteries
41:07
as the power source for this new attraction.
41:11
It was, it was quite challenging.
41:14
And so you've got two of them out there in the field now.
41:16
Seems like it's going really well. 80% of the electricity
41:20
that's used is coming from the solar panels.
41:23
Yes. Where do you see this going?
41:25
What's the future of this look like?
41:27
Well, you know, once again using the the, the experience that we
41:32
have with the train where we know that perhaps the first two
41:37
or three, they were a little bit difficult to sell.
41:40
Obviously we are talking about back in 2017.
41:43
I do believe human beings as the time goes by more people are
41:49
looking into the electric right. So some states here in the
41:54
continental US are actually giving incentives to some
41:58
companies as they switch to electric.
42:00
I do believe over time we are going to become more environment
42:09
conscious, friendly and we see it more people are more
42:14
interested now in electric and electric products.
42:18
I presume the hesitation is that the electric is going to cost
42:21
more upfront. The batteries are a lot more
42:25
expensive. I'm going to say for the trams,
42:30
specifically for the trams, one of the main reasons why we
42:34
collaborate with these companies in Sweden is because the design
42:39
from the moment #0 or #1 was 100% electric.
42:45
So pricing point of view is actually not as high as many
42:51
people could believe. The price that we have for that
42:54
electric tram is very competitive actually.
42:58
And so what's the hesitation from folks buying it?
43:00
Just it's something new. It's something new and if you
43:04
think about it, a lot of a lot of places where they do have
43:07
technicians or maintenance teams, they are used to deal
43:11
with grease. They are used to deal with
43:13
diesel. They are used to do deal with
43:16
gasoline. When they heat electric, they
43:19
immediately picture in their mind, Oh my gosh, it's going to
43:21
be a computer that I have no clue about.
43:24
And it's not that it's not that hard.
43:26
It's easy. So it's a little bit of
43:28
reluctancy. But once again, as the time goes
43:31
by, we see the change back in 2017 to 2025, right?
43:37
People are more open to learn to talk about it.
43:41
And we see that the people are changing little by little.
43:45
They are embracing more. Yeah, we are going electric.
43:50
So aside from the electric trams and trains that you guys are
43:55
have developed and are now selling, what are some other fun
43:59
future projects that are on the horizon?
44:02
Yeah. I'm going to share what I can
44:06
share with you because suddenly as you know, some of the
44:09
contracts that we have, we have very tight NDA's, right?
44:15
What I can tell you that we are working with one of the
44:17
companies in the amusement industry.
44:19
We are working on a fantastic project that I do believe is
44:23
going to be open sometime in 2028.
44:26
And this that's pretty much what I can share is, is impressive
44:31
and is very exciting, right? We are working with another
44:37
company in in the Middle East that also the concept of that
44:42
product is just, we are really just blown away by that concept,
44:46
right. So we're working on multiple
44:50
projects that very, very exciting, very challenging
44:54
projects though, but we are very excited to work on those.
44:58
How about like any internal, I don't know, acquisitions of new
45:03
skill sets or new product lines that might be coming?
45:08
I'm going to say obviously we are, we are, we are.
45:11
One of the good news now we've been part of this group is that
45:18
they are welcoming new ideas. They are welcoming new ideas.
45:22
So we're we're exploring a couple of ideas that we might
45:25
come with perhaps another line of products that we used to be
45:29
part of, right. So we are without giving you a
45:32
specific yes, there are a couple of ideas that we are being being
45:38
explored, I'm going to say. Well, I think what needs to
45:41
happen is we just need to put a note on the calendar for, I
45:43
don't know, a year or two from now so we can check in and hear
45:47
about it once it's in the public domain.
45:49
A. Little bit, a little bit.
45:52
OK, Now something very exciting that we just work on and that I
45:55
believe it is worth it to mention.
45:58
I'm not sure if you're familiar with this place in Vegas called
46:01
Area 15. Area 15 is a very unique place.
46:06
You can look their website and I'm not making publicity for
46:10
these guys, but it is quite unique place.
46:14
So they had the idea of doing this post apocalyptic carousel
46:21
and we work with them and develop a post apocalyptic
46:26
carousel. So that's a carousel that is
46:29
very unique in many different ways.
46:31
The lighting system is just unique.
46:33
The figures we did for them is just try to picture that you see
46:39
a turtle, half turtle and half robots wearing a helmet, right?
46:47
So that's one exciting. Project.
46:50
I'm not even sure what you're talking about.
46:52
I'm just going to have to come see this for myself at some
46:55
point. OK.
46:56
Yeah. So that that's one of the
46:58
projects that we work on and they open, they did a grand
47:01
opening about 5 weeks ago or so. It's super exciting and then
47:06
when it comes to projects that they are going to happen soon,
47:11
don't have a specific timing when they're going to do the
47:14
opening. This is public public
47:17
information. I'm not sure if you have heard
47:19
about this place in Glendale, AZ is a Mattel Adventure Park and
47:24
they are going to talk they're going to open in the near
47:26
future. We, we, we are doing 2 coasters
47:29
for those guys. So that's quite interesting too.
47:33
And so the we have a lot of interesting projects.
47:38
A lot of fun stuff coming. It's a lot of fun, Yes, a lot
47:42
of. Fun.
47:43
All right, let's, let's take a let's take a turn here and let's
47:47
explore some challenges that you've overcome, right.
47:49
Lots of lessons to be learned through going through some hard
47:52
stuff. What's something that you would
47:54
like to share that we can learn from?
47:57
I'm going to share with you one experience that I actually had
48:01
or went through working for the second German company that I
48:06
work. I was managing all the OEMs from
48:13
Asia Pacific, where I'm going to see all the Japanese accounts
48:16
and I'm talking about Honda, Toyota and Nissan.
48:20
So we landed a contract and one Friday the CEO called me.
48:31
I was living in Nashville at the time.
48:34
The CEO called me and said, what are you going to do this Sunday?
48:39
And I knew that every time he was calling me, asking me that
48:42
questions, he wanted me to go somewhere overseas.
48:47
So I replied, Carlos, where do you want me to go this Sunday?
48:52
I want you to go to Tokyo and I want you to decline the
48:55
business. And I said, I'm sorry, did I?
49:00
What happened here? He said, well, you guys took the
49:05
contract, but the finance department did consider that we
49:11
were using equipment that we already have for that specific
49:17
cashing machining. We need completely new equipment
49:20
because all these I said, OK, can you give me an hour?
49:29
No, no, I want you to buy your ticket.
49:30
I want you to be talking by Monday morning.
49:33
OK, Carlos, if that's OK with you.
49:37
Let me think about some questions that I have and left
49:44
the office. My office was in Nashville.
49:47
The traffic is very bad nowadays or still back then it was it was
49:51
very bad. So didn't my driving about an
49:54
hour and a half from home. I got home and I called him back
49:58
and I say, Carlos, do we want to decline the business, What it
50:04
will take for us to keep the business?
50:08
He said the price increase if you are able.
50:14
No, no, he didn't mention that portion.
50:16
He said the pricing, you guys didn't get the right pricing.
50:19
That's why we need to decline the business otherwise we will
50:22
be losing money. And I reply what it will take
50:26
for us to keep the business. I don't believe you can make it
50:29
happen. And I said, you tell me what is
50:31
it? Increase the price And it was
50:35
almost the double of the price. It was almost the double of the
50:38
price. And I, I remember telling him,
50:42
Carlos, if I am able, do we keep his business?
50:48
I don't believe we're going to make it happen.
50:51
But if you are, we keep it OK. We, we talked a little bit a few
50:58
minutes ago about the Japanese culture being rarely respectful
51:01
and as they are respectful, when you do something that you
51:04
shouldn't is is very traditional culture where when you got to
51:08
take it, you got to take it. So it took me, it didn't take me
51:12
one meeting. It didn't take me one day, it
51:13
didn't take me two days. It took me almost one week
51:15
having meetings every single day to the point that we were able
51:19
to reach the price that we needed to be successful.
51:22
So obviously it, it was a success when you asked me the
51:31
question, what, why I learned about that.
51:34
I do believe I learned that asking the right questions and
51:38
listening to the other side and putting yourself in your on the
51:43
other side shoes gives you and helps you to understand the
51:47
other side. And asking the right questions
51:49
at the right time is something that if we practice, we
51:55
communicate much better. Regardless if you are buying or
51:58
selling something, it's just as human beings because I, I don't
52:02
believe I did it myself. It was just hold on for a
52:05
second. You got to hold it.
52:07
You got to listen. And before you open your mouth,
52:12
you got to think about exactly what they are saying.
52:14
And if you don't understand it, phrase it in a way just to make
52:18
sure that I understand what you are saying.
52:20
These are the limits. And tell me, you know, I learned
52:24
from that experience that and it was a very challenging obviously
52:26
I don't have to tell you I didn't sleep for one minute from
52:29
Chicago here to talking Aretha. We are talking about 16 hours.
52:33
I did this, didn't sleep for a second.
52:36
Go to the hotel, didn't sleep for a second.
52:39
Just thinking, thinking how do we approach, how do we solve
52:44
this issue That was perhaps one of the most challenging project
52:51
or task that were given to me? So when you're going into this
52:59
meeting, they don't have any idea the news that's about to be
53:02
delivered to them. Exactly, they didn't.
53:05
OK, you decide, hey, the best way to do this, and I agree.
53:09
Do this in person. This is big news.
53:13
And somehow over the course of that week, you were able to get
53:17
to a point where they could accept the new price.
53:21
Can you tell us anything about the approach that you used?
53:25
So I mean, you're walking in there like, hey guys, we screwed
53:29
up not by a little bit, but by double.
53:34
Like you've really got egg on your face at the start of.
53:37
This week, yeah, No, no, I'm not telling you.
53:39
That's why I use the the very traditional when I when I
53:43
communicate that to my senior buyer, he said.
53:47
I need 45 minutes. I'll be back and I'll be back
53:50
with the team. So when they came back, it was
53:53
not just himself was the, the manager, the senior manager, the
53:58
director, senior director and the VP of that specific
54:01
committee. And it's very, I'm not sure if
54:04
they still do it that way. The highest rank of that team
54:09
was the person right in front of me.
54:12
Everybody else walked one step behind and the this person with
54:18
the highest rank completely empty his cup and in the way
54:24
they are respectful, I I had to take it with that respect.
54:29
Say it again. He completely emptied.
54:31
His cup he he let. It out OK.
54:37
It's a figurative thing. I wanted to make sure there
54:39
wasn't some Japanese customer. Wasn't for.
54:43
Me. He let you have it.
54:44
He let you have it. Yes, OK.
54:46
And nobody else was making a single noise, so I had to take
54:53
it. That was the that was very
54:55
impressive, by the way. I was like, wow, yeah, you got
54:59
to be the highest rank. Let it in, out.
55:03
And so that was the first thing that were like, whoa, right.
55:07
And not really. He he showed up to do that
55:11
specifically and giving instructions to the other team
55:14
members saying this, this, this, this and that, right.
55:19
And obviously every day we were tackling some questions that
55:23
they were asking me providing the answers and they wanted to
55:28
to know a lot of how we screw it, right?
55:33
Yep. And So what was your approach
55:36
my? Approach was.
55:37
Sir, Sorry, Sir. No, no, no, once again,
55:39
listening, listening, listening and asking the, the, the
55:44
questions, right? Because sometimes once again, I,
55:50
I'm not sure if all the people, but at least sometimes myself,
55:54
especially doing sales, sometimes you try to sell
55:58
without listening, right? And when you less on this, when
56:00
you learn what exactly is the team preventing or the reason
56:06
why they say no right. So you have heard this
56:10
expression that most of the salespeople we do.
56:13
When you hear a no, it's not necessarily a no is you got to
56:17
understand why that is the answer, right?
56:20
It's just asking questions, asking questions.
56:22
My approach was let them speak, listen to what they had to say
56:29
and then don't reply. Absolutely write immediately,
56:33
listen, think about it and then propose.
56:37
That was my approach at least. I mean listen, listen, listen to
56:41
what they have to say. What are the reason behind all
56:48
of that? And we can say it was easy.
56:50
It was surprising, right? Screw the volume.
56:53
No, it was more, way more, more than that.
56:56
Trust issues at that point. It is to regain their.
56:59
Trust. Exactly.
57:00
I mean, you you mentioned one word that was or I do believe
57:04
it's still key to the in the Japanese culture when they have
57:08
when you have their trust, most likely you can do business for
57:11
the rest of your life. You have heard about those
57:13
relationships when the Japanese culture they go for life.
57:17
So it was a little bit personal because obviously I have worked
57:20
with the guys at the time many years coming to them doing that.
57:27
It was being respectful. What like we build all these
57:32
trust for all these years and then out of the blue you burn
57:35
the bridge. Yeah, it.
57:38
Was tough. Yeah.
57:40
You you navigated it, you put it back together.
57:43
Yes. And once again, that's perhaps
57:45
one of the most challenging tasks that's was given to me and
57:50
still remember today like it was yours yesterday.
57:54
Jay, what's your superpower? I believe I have none.
58:01
I like to differ, so I'm going to say something that I am very
58:06
proud of is and I'm not afraid that way.
58:09
I'm very proud of that. I like to keep learning things
58:12
every single day. I believe I share with you that
58:15
personally, being my undergrads after the undergrad did multiple
58:21
certifications and then I did my MBA in Vanderbilt.
58:26
And then after that, I believe at that point I really realized
58:31
that my thirsty or my hungry for learning, I, I cannot fit enough
58:41
and my, my brain. So at that point I decided to do
58:43
my doctorate and did my doctorate in the Netherlands.
58:48
And actually it's kind of interesting because last night I
58:50
was just having a conversation with my wife and I told her, you
58:53
know what, what if I do this? She's like, are you going to
58:56
ever stop going? So I don't believe that's just
59:00
I, I don't know how to phrase it in the right way, but I.
59:03
Curiosity. Your superpower is curiosity.
59:06
Probably you. That probably that's the right
59:08
way to say, yeah. And what is your doctorate in?
59:11
Business, business and I did my specialty over in marketing and
59:16
specifically social media. How social media is impacting
59:22
not your life, my life, personal life has been impacting that for
59:25
many, many years. How is impacted actually
59:29
corporate decision making? Oh, interesting.
59:33
Yes. Is this what was the timing of
59:36
this doctorate? Was this while you were with
59:39
Chance rides or before? Yes.
59:41
Yes, actually I used to have my doctorate back in 2018 is
59:46
something that I I already had the idea when I joined the
59:49
company. I talked to the the former owner
59:51
of the company. This is what I have as my client
59:54
for education I want to complete my doctorate so I joined the
59:59
doctorate in 2018 and I completed my doctorate last year
1:00:04
so has I did my doctorate while working for for chance give us
1:00:10
the. Short one to two-minute version
1:00:12
of How is social media affecting the way companies run?
1:00:17
Yes. Well, I'm going to say one or
1:00:20
two minutes. Younger generations are already
1:00:23
taking corporate positions and younger generations are living
1:00:28
with social media for everything they do, right from buying shoes
1:00:32
all the way to making decisions of softwares, equipments and
1:00:36
things like that. These new generations are
1:00:38
bringing that behaviour and that behaviour is affecting no 100
1:00:43
tennis shoes. They are impacting decision at
1:00:46
multi $1,000,000 purchasing decision making, that's how we
1:00:51
start. But at the end of the day, some
1:00:53
actually X they are using that also as feedback for whatever
1:00:57
decision they are planning to do impacting the business.
1:01:01
So. Yeah, OK.
1:01:04
What's your favorite thing to do outside of work, Jay?
1:01:09
Training for my triathlons. OK.
1:01:15
So my definition of fun is go for a swimming, go for a run,
1:01:18
get on the bicycle and then racing.
1:01:21
The racing is something that I enjoy, really enjoy doing it.
1:01:26
And when is the next triathlon that you're doing?
1:01:28
The next, well, the next I'm doing a half marathon December
1:01:32
the 14th. Then I'm doing half marathon in
1:01:37
Vegas in February. Then I'm doing my first
1:01:40
triathlon of the season in 2026 in early April here in close to
1:01:45
Wichita, but my next Iron Man is in Maryland in June 2026.
1:01:52
OK, from the actual Iron Man, Yes, big one.
1:01:56
Nice. Glad to be 1, yes?
1:01:59
Well, Jay, I've just got one more question for you today.
1:02:01
But before I ask it, I want to do three things.
1:02:03
First of all, anyone who wants to get in touch with Jay, he's
1:02:07
given us permission to give out his personal or his work e-mail
1:02:10
address, I should say, and it's jay.aguilar@chancerides.com,
1:02:15
aguilarisspelledaguilar.j.aguilar@chancerides.com. And obviously you can learn a
1:02:22
lot more about the company and what they do at chancerides.com.
1:02:25
We'll have links to both of those in the show notes.
1:02:28
Also is a reminder, if you want to get more employees access to
1:02:31
benefits that won't hurt them financially and carries a
1:02:34
financial upside for the company, reach out to us at Add
1:02:37
back benefits.com. Finally, if you'll take just a
1:02:41
moment to leave us a comment or review on your favorite podcast
1:02:44
app, you will hold a special place in our hearts forever.
1:02:47
Thank you. So last question for you, Jay.
1:02:50
A year from now, you and I reconnect and you are
1:02:52
celebrating something big. What do you hope is that big
1:02:55
thing you're celebrating one year from today?
1:03:00
Professionally speaking, a big contract somewhere in the Middle
1:03:03
East, yes, and a couple of contracts here with some of the
1:03:08
big boys. Some.
1:03:12
Things that sound like maybe they're in the works.
1:03:14
Yes, yes. And then personally, my one of
1:03:20
my granddaughters is actually graduating in May 2026.
1:03:26
And so that's from the personal side.
1:03:28
I, I love my grandkids, love my kids.
1:03:30
So that's always regardless what I am in the world, I need a
1:03:34
commitment that I'm not going to miss.
1:03:36
As long as I'm leaving and I can move, I'm going to go to every
1:03:39
single graduation of the grandkids.
1:03:41
So and so this is a graduation from high school.
1:03:43
That's high time. Yes.
1:03:44
OK, terrific. Well, J Luis Aguilar from Chance
1:03:48
Rides, I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your
1:03:50
time and your story with us today.
1:03:53
I really appreciate it. No, Anthony, thank you so much
1:03:56
for having me. It was a quite interesting
1:03:58
conversation, by the way. For me as well, folks, that's a
1:04:02
wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
1:04:05
Thanks for learning with us today.