Captain Michael Malley's been navigating the waters of Indexic since February 2024, but his history with us goes way back. As a former co-owner of Tidal Wave Watersports, he's been a dedicated user – and fan – of our booking software for over a decade. With such in-depth knowledge of our product and a passion for sharing its benefits, Malley's ready to steer Indexic to even greater success.
He spoke with us from Charleston Harbor about the winds of change that brought him to Indexic, how his love for watersports first sparked his interest in our software, and how he stays focused on navigating through rough waters, even amidst the tides of change.
You've worn many hats, from watersports entrepreneur to sales director. Can you tell us a bit about the path that led you to Indexic?
So, my name is Michael Malley. I am a 100 ton master captain and have spent nearly the last 20 years running a parasail boat here in the Charleston Harbor. I’m originally from Pittsburgh. I took my summers and we spent time on Lake Erie, which was pretty exciting, that was the ocean to me. When I was in high school I finally got to go to the beach for the first time, the real beach, so I’m making up for lost time. My summers during college I spent at the beach, and I was lucky enough to spend my time at a jet ski location and work my way up to parasail maintenance, which is the pinnacle of watersports jobs for a 20 year old. Very exciting. So, after finishing my college career and going off and getting a real job like you’re supposed to when your parents tell you to grow up and go be somebody, I worked at a desk. I wore a tie and I wore a suit and through my 20’s, all I talked about was how excited I was to one day start a watersports operation. Running jet skis, that was all you heard from me for years. So, with the help of some partners, we made it happen. We moved to Charleston and we bought a place called Tidal Wave Watersports. We were the largest watersports operation in Charleston for a long time. We offered jet ski tours, we offered jet ski rentals, we did boat tours, we taught numerous kids how to wakeboard and waterski. We brought people who had never seen this type of backdrop, we had a really good time. And above all, we took people parasailing, lots and lots of people parasailing. This was my office for the last 18 years, so I’ve come full circle. We’ve worked with everybody in the area, a lot of local partners. Now I find myself here with Indexic.
The watersports industry and the software industry might seem worlds apart. How has your experience in the watersports industry shaped your understanding of customer needs and the challenges businesses face in that space?
I’m standing here in front of Charleston Harbor. We’ve got some water activities going on in the background here, which is what brought me to Charleston in the first place. I’m a parasail captain by trade, and for the last 18 years I took tens of thousands of people parasailing here in Charleston Harbor. Tourists, locals, people celebrating, people just here to have a good time. I took charter tours out on the water, jet ski tours out on the water, and I’ve just called Charleston my home for a really long time.
Throughout that time, my life was made a lot easier by the partners that I worked with, one of which was Indexic. Indexic was our booking software and we were their 7th overall client, so we grew as a company and we grew with Indexic. They used a lot of our input to add the features that you have today that help many of these companies, some of which are in the background right now.
When I stepped away from full-time on the water, which was bittersweet, I had been asked to come in and work with Indexic and I was eager to jump at it. Now, what I’m able to do is talk to other tour operators and operators of small businesses and speak to them from the perspective of a business owner. As a tour operator, I’m someone who understands what you need to be successful in this climate. Especially now that more and more people are online, it’s very important that you have a great web presence. It’s very important that you show what you’re able to do as quickly as you can because people’s attention spans are short. We’re able to help people with everything from building their web presence, building new websites, having an extremely efficient booking flow, and ultimately help people from start to finish run their business remotely, if need be.
Any advice to someone getting into the industry (watersports or otherwise)?
So, I was pretty lucky. I got to spend the last almost 20 years working on the water doing something that I love. And if there was any advice to someone who was looking to get into the industry, doing rentals, doing tours, find something that you enjoy doing, go and do that. Bring your friends and when someone comes as a renter or comes to take a tour with you, treat them like you would want to be treated. Show your city the way you would want to be shown. So, that’s the advice, is that make it something you love, and the cliche is that you’re not working.. You’re still working, but you’ll enjoy it a lot more.