OUR TEAM

MEET THE PEOPLE WHO

Make It Happen

For anyone learning about the Bad Company World Tour and Team Bad Company in general, the first question they ask is who is Anthony Hsieh, the man behind the dream?

Anthony certainly had a very modest beginning, having immigrated to the United States with his family around the age of seven, settling in Los Angeles, Southern California. The fishing bug caught him early, fishing Venice pier for sharks at the age of 8. As a teen Anthony began hanging out on the local docks and landings, eventually working the decks on local sport boats for a little cash and time on the water fishing. Starting at belmont pier on the half day boat ENTERPRISE, then Deadhead on TORNADO and two summers as deckhand on the THUNDERBIRD out of Davies Locker, Newport Beach during the El Nino of 1983. It wasn’t long before Anthony got his first boat at age 19, a 17-foot Boston Whaler that he pulled from launch ramp to launch ramp throughout Southern California and as far south as Cabo San Lucas, Mexico way before it was common or fashionable. Anthony has made the drive and tow to Cabo and back, over 20 plus times.

From that 17 Whaler, Anthony continued to upgrade his boats, going to a 25 Cabo cuddy cabin with twin 150 Yamahas, then up to his first proper twin diesel sportfisher, the 32 Blackfin YOUNG GUNS. As his business continued to grow and prosper, so did his sportfishing yachts, over a dozen over the years, all earning the BAD COMPANY name across the transom. These included a 28 Betram, 37 Bertram, 38 Bertram, and a 54 Bertram, then the Bad Company fleet was launched which consisted of 3 custom convertibles, based out of Kona, HI, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and Newport Beach, CA. Other notable yachts include a 45 Rybovich, a 60 Viking (Bad Company Edition), a 75 Delta, and 92 Jones Goodall. Then the motherships, the Trinity 144, Damen 150, and most recently the Damen 175. There were plenty of others along the way, but this should give an idea of the evolution of “Bad Company” yachts over the past 30 years or so. In 2007 Anthony also purchased the largest yacht dealer on the West Coast, Crows Nest Yachts. Partnered with Viking yachts they produced “Bad Company Edition” vessels with custom bait systems, tuna tubes, sonars, electronics, towers and many other special upgrades. Anthony has been an expert and innovator of sonars and custom bait systems since the early 90’s.

ANTHONY HSIEH

Owner

Team Bad Company has covered the entire Eastern Pacific, from Southern California down through Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, and Kona HI, winning over $7.5mm in tournament winnings.

Along the way Anthony continues to hone his skills as an overall waterman. With over 25,000 hours at the helm and over $1mm in tournament winnings as owner and Captain. Anthony is just as capable operating the boat and finding the fish as he is on the rod. He is a highly skilled angler, with 9 surface swordfish to his credit, along with thousands of blue, black, and striped marlin.

The team currently holds the World Record for most striped marlin caught in one day, an astounding 330 marlin. For those not familiar with the west coast style of fishing, striped marlin and swordfish are most often caught first by finding the fish swimming on the surface, then a live bait is cast off the bow to the fish for an exciting bite and hook up. This requires lots of skill and coordination from the angler on the bow and the captain at the helm.

As his fleet grew, so did the concept of “Team Bad Company”. Team Bad Company has been lead by IGFA hall of Fame Captain Steve Lassley, but has included many other notables over the years, including Pete Groesbeck, Jimmy Kingsmill, Joe Mike Lopez, Kevin Bohannon, Kevin Nakumaru, O.B O’Brian, Randy Parker, and a host of other big time captains and mates. Team Bad Company has covered the entire Eastern Pacific, from Southern California down through Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, and Kona HI, winning over $7.5mm in tournament winnings. Aside from the winnings, the team has been innovative in the use of live bait, sonar, and gyro stabilized binoculars.

Building a winning team takes a strong leader, regardless of the objective. Other winning teams Anthony assembled as an entrepreneur include 3 world class Fintech companies that created tens of thousands of jobs. His most recent company, starting only 11 years ago, went public at over $4.2 billion in Market Cap. Anthony’s appreciation of the special opportunity and privilege of living in Freedom in the United States, combined with his love of fishing, motivated him to build another world class operation, War Heroes On Water (WHOW). Now in its 6th year, this charity fishing tournament hosting and benefiting combat wounded veterans, has raised over $5 million for charity and hosted hundreds of veterans aboard dozens of private yachts donated by local southern California yacht owners.

The impact this event has had on the veterans, yacht owners, crews, and tournament organizers, has been significant and long lasting. Being an expert angler, skilled captain, motivated team builder, and world class dreamer, are all skills and traits required to put together the World Tour. Fishing the very best locations on the globe, seeking trophy class billfish and amazing life experiences sounds like a dream, and it is. The amount of commitment, effort, and time required to execute are significant, not to mention the economics. Most of us don’t have what it takes on any of these fronts, let alone all of them. Lucky for us, Anthony is eager to share the experience, from the glory of a trophy catch, to the disappointments certain to occur with so many moving parts and high stakes. We get a spot on the rail, and get to tag along on the fishing trip of a lifetime. 

ANTHONY HSIEH

Owner

For anyone learning about the Bad Company World Tour and Team Bad Company in general, the first question they ask is who is Anthony Hsieh, the man behind the dream?

Anthony certainly had a very modest beginning, having immigrated to the United States with his family around the age of seven, settling in Los Angeles, Southern California. The fishing bug caught him early, fishing Venice pier for sharks at the age of 8. As a teen Anthony began hanging out on the local docks and landings, eventually working the decks on local sport boats for a little cash and time on the water fishing. Starting at belmont pier on the half day boat ENTERPRISE, then Deadhead on TORNADO and two summers as deckhand on the THUNDERBIRD out of Davies Locker, Newport Beach during the El Nino of 1983. It wasn’t long before Anthony got his first boat at age 19, a 17-foot Boston Whaler that he pulled from launch ramp to launch ramp throughout Southern California and as far south as Cabo San Lucas, Mexico way before it was common or fashionable. Anthony has made the drive and tow to Cabo and back, over 20 plus times.

From that 17 Whaler, Anthony continued to upgrade his boats, going to a 25 Cabo cuddy cabin with twin 150 Yamahas, then up to his first proper twin diesel sportfisher, the 32 Blackfin YOUNG GUNS. As his business continued to grow and prosper, so did his sportfishing yachts, over a dozen over the years, all earning the BAD COMPANY name across the transom. These included a 28 Betram, 37 Bertram, 38 Bertram, and a 54 Bertram, then the Bad Company fleet was launched which consisted of 3 custom convertibles, based out of Kona, HI, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and Newport Beach, CA. Other notable yachts include a 45 Rybovich, a 60 Viking (Bad Company Edition), a 75 Delta, and 92 Jones Goodall. Then the motherships, the Trinity 144, Damen 150, and most recently the Damen 175. There were plenty of others along the way, but this should give an idea of the evolution of “Bad Company” yachts over the past 30 years or so. In 2007 Anthony also purchased the largest yacht dealer on the West Coast, Crows Nest Yachts. Partnered with Viking yachts they produced “Bad Company Edition” vessels with custom bait systems, tuna tubes, sonars, electronics, towers and many other special upgrades. Anthony has been an expert and innovator of sonars and custom bait systems since the early 90’s.

Along the way Anthony continues to hone his skills as an overall waterman. With over 25,000 hours at the helm and over $1mm in tournament winnings as owner and Captain. Anthony is just as capable operating the boat and finding the fish as he is on the rod. He is a highly skilled angler, with 9 surface swordfish to his credit, along with thousands of blue, black, and striped marlin. The team currently holds the World Record for most striped marlin caught in one day, an astounding 330 marlin. For those not familiar with the west coast style of fishing, striped marlin and swordfish are most often caught first by finding the fish swimming on the surface, then a live bait is cast off the bow to the fish for an exciting bite and hook up. This requires lots of skill and coordination from the angler on the bow and the captain at the helm.

Team Bad Company has covered the entire Eastern Pacific, from Southern California down through Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, and Kona HI, winning over $7.5mm in tournament winnings.

As his fleet grew, so did the concept of “Team Bad Company”. Team Bad Company has been lead by IGFA hall of Fame Captain Steve Lassley, but has included many other notables over the years, including Pete Groesbeck, Jimmy Kingsmill, Joe Mike Lopez, Kevin Bohannon, Kevin Nakumaru, O.B O’Brian, Randy Parker, and a host of other big time captains and mates. Team Bad Company has covered the entire Eastern Pacific, from Southern California down through Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, and Kona HI, winning over $7.5mm in tournament winnings. Aside from the winnings, the team has been innovative in the use of live bait, sonar, and gyro stabilized binoculars.

Building a winning team takes a strong leader, regardless of the objective. Other winning teams Anthony assembled as an entrepreneur include 3 world class Fintech companies that created tens of thousands of jobs. His most recent company, starting only 11 years ago, went public at over $4.2 billion in Market Cap. Anthony’s appreciation of the special opportunity and privilege of living in Freedom in the United States, combined with his love of fishing, motivated him to build another world class operation, War Heroes On Water (WHOW). Now in its 6th year, this charity fishing tournament hosting and benefiting combat wounded veterans, has raised over $5 million for charity and hosted hundreds of veterans aboard dozens of private yachts donated by local southern California yacht owners. The impact this event has had on the veterans, yacht owners, crews, and tournament organizers, has been significant and long lasting.

Being an expert angler, skilled captain, motivated team builder, and world class dreamer, are all skills and traits required to put together the World Tour. Fishing the very best locations on the globe, seeking trophy class billfish and amazing life experiences sounds like a dream, and it is. The amount of commitment, effort, and time required to execute are significant, not to mention the economics. Most of us don’t have what it takes on any of these fronts, let alone all of them. Lucky for us, Anthony is eager to share the experience, from the glory of a trophy catch, to the disappointments certain to occur with so many moving parts and high stakes. We get a spot on the rail, and get to tag along on the fishing trip of a lifetime.

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