Born in 1954, he went on to ski competitively at the U. of Colorado until injuries cut short his career. With big dreams and a small inheritance, he headed to Vermont to fulfill a dream: manufacturing his own snowboards. The dream lived but Jake blew through his cash and in just 12 months, he was $100,000 in debt. But Jake never gave up and now he's a global figure in snowboarding, sitting atop an a business empire and his snowboards are famous worldwide.
Below is a very nicely done video about Burton that is really an advertisement for the Wall St. Journal. But don't let that put you off. If you're into video making at all, this piece has some great techniques; if you just like a good ol' fashioned "follow your dreams" story, this will do it for you to. And if your just a digital photography ho, yeah, this vid has something for you to just watch and goof on: the extensive coverage of a Burton photo shoot where they are actually using (gulp) flim. They even show the art director checking out the Polaroid test shots.