Mike started the motorcycle saddle company in 1968 and had developed it into a reasonably good family business. Corbin actually invented the market which he dominated, then and now. He was able to continuously bring in new ideas which kept the market and the business on a constant growth pattern. By 1994 Mike had the family business running along very well, after coming through the 1991 recession. The motorcycle industry slowed, but thankfully only for a short period of time.
Tom was a real estate developer in Sacramento and was enjoying a good business that he had started in 1983. At 18 years old, out of high school, Tom went directly out on his own to work, starting with selling vacuum cleaners to parlaying fixer-upper houses. Tom admired entrepreneurs and studied the art of "living by one's wits." Entrepreneurs start young and in Tom's case, with the exposure to his Dad's motorcycle business and electric vehicle involvement, his education was rich with risk and imagination. Mike had asked Tom to go to college after doing very well in private high school but Tom insisted in starting on the road of entrepreneurship.
Mike and Tom started talking about long range plans involving commitment to the Sparrow. Father and son knew it would take years to develop a successful niche car company.
 The Sparrow idea haunted Mike constantly, but at 51 years old he wondered if he was too old to start an electric car company. He knew that he had come up with an innovative niche vehicle idea that would be very helpful to commuters and to the environment. Having been in business most of his life, Mike knew this would be a long-term developmental endeavor and it would require all his financial and intellectual resources. The Sparrow project could easily take twenty years before it would be a sustainable business plan. There were extreme risks involved and a project like this was really too large for a company the size of Corbin Motorcycle Saddles.
Mike felt good about the trek of testing himself against the odds of starting a car company from scratch-if Tom would join up. The project needed a young man willing to commit to a long term challenging endeavor.
Tom was ready, willing, able and fascinated by the challenge of actually starting an electric car company. The idea of tackling the almost impossible aroused the adrenalin of the born entrepreneur.
"Entrepreneurship = Envisioning a business that is beyond the reach of current assets; the vision exceeds the capital and human resources of the enterprise."
Mike and Tom loved the idea and vowed to work at maximum effort for as long as it would take to bring Sparrow to an enlightened and sustainable business that brings high value to owners while reducing air pollution.
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