What Does It Take To Succeed? – Meet Hans Bergman

​Hans Bergman first became a member of SACC San Diego when he moved here 25 years ago. He was by then an elite level golf player and was offered a scholarship at University of San Diego. Since then his career has flourished and his resume reveals a lot of success stories within different startups. Since 2007, Hans has put his soul into ASSOS North America - a company that he practically built up from a bedroom in Montreal. Today ASSOS North America has 13 employees and 73% of the attendants in Tour de France requesting their products. 

​Pro cyclists all over the world send us their shorts and pay us for attaching our patented chamois.

​ASSOS has its origin in Switzerland and specialize in high-end cycling apparel. According to Hans, ASSOS is unique because of its belief that product is king. No compromises whatsoever are made from product development to complete product.

​Not many companies are willing to put so much effort and resources into its products […] We believe in our products and as a result, so do our customers.

​ASSOS is becoming a big name in the world of cycling. The last few years, five out of six cyclists riding in ASSOS patented shorts technology have won Tour de France. Likewise, in the Olympic Games you will see both team USA and team Switzerland wearing one hundred percent ASSOS. The development curve of ASSOS is going upwards, and the future is looking good. More and more people are using bicycles as a mean of transportation and with the right communication, Hans believes that ASSOS is very well positioned to prosper further.

Visit ASSOS Website

​Since February this year, Hans has been a board member of SACC San Diego and ASSOS has correspondingly become one of our members. His reason for taking this step is his strong beliefs in sharing experiences and knowledge and through this create value for the organization. Hans means that it is wonderful to work with and be around Swedish people and Swedish culture, since he feels there is a certain quality associated with it. Hans believes that Sweden is a country in the front edge when it comes to representing the future, and that SACC offers a unique and great value proposition.
 
However, Hans’ love for Sweden has not stopped him from having a highly international career, something that has widened his perspective in many situations.

​As an example, when faced with difficult decisions of say ten variables, an American confirm six out of ten variables, then decide to go for it. In the same situation, a Swede would wait until eight or nine of these variables are confirmed before making a decision. Finally in Japan, you wait until all ten variables are confirmed.

​Hans feels like his career has thrived much because of him moving from Sweden. Conversely, he has in a way gotten stuck in the category of being “a travelling international man”. Hans travels close to 200 days out of the year’s 365, which many times are tough, but also fantastic. He believes that the advantages greatly outweigh the disadvantages because of all the experiences, meetings with great people and exchange of knowledge and culture.
 
Hans’ answer to the question of what makes him so successful is simple - he loves what he does. He has an exceptional driving force that has been with him since birth, and he believes that every person should find something they just cannot wait to get up in the morning to do.
 
Out of all his success stories, Hans is most proud over his establishment of a subsidiary to the Swedish toy making company BRIO in Japan. It was tough times both in Japan and for BRIO by then, and Hans had to quickly build up an entire new organization over there. At the same time, he had just become a father. Despite this pressure, Hans overtook the market and built up an organization that soon conquered the giants. Fortunately for Hans, he has an understanding wife, Isabelle, who also loves adventures. Their exploratory has allowed them both to experience more than most people could imagine.
 
Talking about his career, Hans pinpoints the importance of taking chances and experiencing things.

​Everything you do in life you will gain valuable experience from, whether you fail or succeed, you will learn something important.

​However, as important it is to take chances, it is also important to be prepared. Concerning this, Hans have created a principle that he calls the Negative-3. It stands for the fact that when you plan a new venture, you should multiply all expectations by three. If you believe something will take one year, it will take three. If you believe something will cost 100,000 dollars, it will cost 300,000. And everything will always be three times as hard as you first thought.
 
Hans believes that sharing of experiences is very important and he dreams about that one day being able to travel around to schools giving lectures to students in younger ages in order to inspire them to reach their dreams. Through sharing both failure and success, he wants to inspire students to study harder and become better people. He feels that these kinds of speeches are lacking in the younger ages and he remember himself walking around wondering what it takes to succeed.

​What they need is motivation, something I believe I could really contribute to with my pictures and stories about things they could never imagine… I could contribute with simple advice of how to think and be.

​Whatever the future will hold, Hans is looking brightly at it and wants to continue growing together with both ASSOS and SACC. With this we want to welcome Hans and ASSOS into our organization, and hopefully we can create another success story together.
 
If you too want to become one of our members, or just would like more information of what is included in our different memberships, click the button below.
​

SACC Memberships