Meet Adam Tromp of Santa Monica

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Tromp

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
After leaving my Corporate position of 15 years in the Toy Manufacturing industry, I took a few years to gather my thoughts, figure out what I wanted to do and clear my head. I started a small construction company, took on some remodel projects for acquaintances and then decided to completely remodel and build out a couple properties I owned. I turned them into AirBnB rentals, did quite well with those and at the same time, started day trading more often and doing a bit of consulting work.

I was 45 at the time but had a couple of dreams I just HAD TO realize! I had to sweep my girlfriend off her feet and convince her that we were destined to be together. It wasn’t easy but we’re head over heels for each other after 8 years of marriage now and every move we make…whether it’s personal or business related has one main goal, to spend more time together.

Next, I’m proud to say that despite a very rough childhood, growing up in 13 countries and the challenge of having very few opportunities to pursue an education (even at the grade school level), when I came back to the USA, I made the right choices, worked an incredible amount of hours and my career flourished more and more as time went on. The Corp position I spoke of in the opening part of my story was wonderful in so many ways but I forever yearned to build my own company, set my own policies, have my own goals and see just what I’m capable of…

My passion has always been motorbikes, I live and breath motorbikes and always have! Many of the best things that have happened in my life are a result of a motorbike I owned or an event I attended. I knew that if I was going to do something great, it had to be something I loved and with that in mind…it had to be motorbike related.

I started small as any business should. I don’t care to drive so I found a very small and quite rough little retail space just 3 quarters of a block from the Condo my wife and I bought so I could walk to work. Then the work really began! We had to completely refurbish this building that was adjoined to Bartels Harley Davidson on Lincoln Blvd……Did I say it was rough, I remember tearing down walls and putting the flooring in, thinking to myself…what did I sign myself up for?

That location was a perfect launching ground. We started as a small dealership selling used and consigned motorbikes. We added a Mechanic, then a second and even a third. I had ZERO experience in social media and despite my daughter laughing at my early attempts, I just kept at it and posted anything that made me smile or brought me joy. People loved it!

My wife owned a large Hollywood prop house at the time, Pinacoteca picture props in N. Hollywood. She specializes in cleared artwork, a portion of it she creates herself, although she’s a bit shy about it, she’s truly an amazing artist and designer. With her incredibly eye for what people like to see in the film industry, I tapped on that talent to help design our logos, our Iconic merchandise, clothing, hats, website design and so on. We worked together to buy out her partner and now Pinacoteca is wholly owned by Tija and I. She’s been my muse, my motivation and I could go on and on with how much she’s helped with the evolution, the pivots and the growth of Iconic Motorbikes Inc.

A couple years after our launch I met Abhi Eswarappa and we hit it off Instantly! He already had a very popular Bike Blog and website named Bike-Urious and after just a couple of short meetings, we decided to start our own online auction company!

The auction site was a quick success and sales went to just shy of $4 million all in. We needed a bigger place! We already had a couple small hangars at Santa Monica Airport for our overflow bikes but we needed more! We then opted to step up to hangar 7 at the airport and filled it with bikes in just a couple of weeks. Service requests were growing, clothing was selling and we needed more help!

We then met Vic Branstetter at the airport and again, we hit it off like brothers almost immediately. So much so that Vic opted to invest into Iconic and help us take it to another level. If the Branstetter name rings a bell, it should, he was one of the founding partners of the Hillstone / Houstons restaurant group and has a dozen other success stories under his belt. Beyond that, he had a wonderful collection of cars and bikes and wanted more!

With Vics help, we made a deal with the airport to take over Corporate Hangar 1 at the airport. Not only a much larger facility but it had outside access and plenty of room for growth. We moved from our small storage hangar, our larger hangar 7 and paid off our lease on Lincoln Blvd to get everyone under one roof. That meant more staff, more technicians, more divisions…we kept growing.

2023 marked 6 years in business, over $10 Million in annual revenue and right around 22 people including Abhi and I.

We’ve since had two stock offerings, the first where we hoped to raise $250K but raised nearly $700,000. The second raise, we hoped to raise another $300K for another new endeavor and we raised $1.1 Million! These funds helped us start Iconic Motorbike Transport so we can move bikes throughout the USA without issue. It helped us produce an idea I had, Iconic Moto Boxes so that we can transport bikes worldwide safely. It helped us develop our site further so we can list and sell as many bikes as people care to list on our site. We used a portion of it to add a second floor to our hangar, we added 5000+ Sq ft so we can hold EVEN MORE bikes!

We now an incredible service area, Iconic transport continues to grow and our auction listings just continue to grow and sell through. We have partnership deals in multiple countries and sell / buy bikes worldwide!

Our last raise where we funded to $1.1 million was also set up to help our newest division. We call it Iconic Moto Market and we’re set to start in 2024. It’s a Person to Person P2P platform where anyone in the world can sell a part to anyone in the world on a safe, reliable platform that focuses on customer service and a curated experience.

We opened the doors for our East Coast location in Rhode Island which we call a Motorbike Lodge / Resort. A place that not only holds a few thousand of our parts for the new Moto Market platform but we host bike auctions, store bikes and even do some service work. The property has 6 bedrooms, it’s own beach, set on 1.3 acres on a truly spectacular piece of land in a perfect location, just 1 mile from town, 20 or so minutes to sought after Newport RI and so much more.

It all sounds like a lot because it is but it’s a dream that came to fruition, a passion project gone awry and proof that when you put your heart, your soul and LOTS OF WORK into something…you’re destined to succeed.

I’m forever thankful for our investors, our share holders, my amazing wife, my phenomenal business partner Abhi, our staff and most certainly our clients. We’re just getting started as I have so many more aspirations! Keeping the throttle pinned and can’t wait to see what’s around the next corner 🙂

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Taking on the risks….signing that first lease and that next lease and just going for it!

Raising money is always difficult but holding to your commitments and getting people to know you both business wise and personally is a great bit of advice. A client once told me “start a personal facebook page as you live a really interesting life and people will want to know who they are buying, selling or working with”. He was so right, I truly believe that helped considerably! It paid off in other ways too… I connected with my family in Australia that I didn’t know I had, my family in Germany and Holland. My wife did the same for her family in Italy and Japan…win win and win again!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We pride ourselves on being transparent, knowledgeable and honest. Our fee structure is clear and consistent with the industry so clients never have to question if there’s a over the top mark up or absorbent fees. Plus, we have a really great time doing it so it’s awesome to share our experiences and passion with like minded enthusiasts

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Born in Australia, rushed off to South Africa and then raised in a few countries throughout Europe before coming to the USA. Mother was married 6 times and my siblings all stayed with their fathers but I stuck with my mum to keep her safe. We ran off to Costa Rica just before my 9th birthday, stayed there for 4 years before running out of $.

Back to Australia when I was 13, after about 18 months my mum was ready to go and I stayed by myself as I wanted to have ONE year in school. I worked, went to school and finally found myself in a spot where I couldnt live on my own any longer so I came to the USA.

I only attended about 4 years of grade school and tested out of most classes. Went to a Tech college at 16, met a great mate and we decided to pack up one day and come to CA. That’s when bikes took over my life AGAIN and motivated me to work my tail off to succeed. Getting my girlfriend pregnant most certainly motivated me to work harder and really focus on my career…the rest included a bunch of work, a slew of hours and thankfully some smart career choices….

Contact Info:

• Website: https://iconicmotorbikes.com
• Instagram: iconic motorbikes
• Facebook: iconic motorbikes
• Youtube: @iconicmotorbikes