Today we’d like to introduce you to Cameron Zamot.
Hi Cameron, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’m a military brat and spent my younger years moving all around the world, a new place every few years. After graduating high school in 2015, I attended the University of Maine, the United States Naval Academy, and finally the University of Florida before graduating with my mechanical engineering degree in 2021, around the time I re-discovered bikes as an adult.
After graduating, I moved out to Colorado and fell deeper in love with bikes. I started building and rebuilding bikes, racing, training, and getting into longer rides through the plains and the mountains. I worked remote in the post-covid solar industry and spent a lot of time on my laptop at local coffee shops. Sitting there in those shops, I realized I wanted to start my own “meeting space” at some point, and decided to apply for a MBA to learn some business fundamentals.
Around this time (mid-2022), I uprooted my life – broke up with my girlfriend Lauren, sold most of my belongings, and moved to Hawaii. That lasted about a month, before I moved to Raleigh to live with my cousin for a bit while I got back on my feet.
About a year later, in mid-2023, I was halfway through my online MBA, engaged to Lauren (some mistakes are thankfully correctable with humility and love) and working a different job at the same solar company.
A few months after Lauren and I moved back in together, I lost my job and opened an LLC called “The Bike Library.” The concept was my MBA final project, originally intended to be a dispersed bike rental service. I had four bikes and rented them out of various businesses around town.
After about five months in business, in May 2024, we opened the shipping container at Lake Raleigh. For that whole summer, fall, and winter of exhausting weekends – hot, cold, early, late, dark – we were out by the lake. By now, I had paid staff (not just paid via Venmo but real W-2 staff!) and we were cooking. I briefly worked for the City of Raleigh as a transit planner to pay some bills as I continued to push on the weekends.
Around February, I quit my job at the City and signed a lease in a mixed-use development in Platform Apartments in West End Raleigh. From March to July, I built the shop with a lot of help from friends and fellow bike people in Raleigh. The overall cost of the project was around $150,000, and we opened our doors on July 1, 2025. We are the only bike shop + coffee shop in Raleigh.
The journey is just beginning, but so far it’s been a ton of fun. Lauren and I are learning lots and putting all of our energy into continuing to make this dream a reality for the city and the community.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Working to get the word out and get people in the door is hard. Dealing with turnover is hard. One of our primary investors who put in $45,000 backed out on day 2 of business. That’s hard. Training staff is hard. Opening a bike shop and coffee shop without any real experience in either industry is hard. Selling $7 coffees to people as we enter a third world war and a worsening economy is hard.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I specialize in nothing – rather, I consider myself a generalist. The book “Range” by David Epstein really influenced this worldview!
I taught myself harmonica, guitar, and piano and now I play in a band. I built myself a darkroom over covid and developed film photos I shot during the long, monotonous days. I draw and paint, but only when I have the materials in front of me and the time + company to do so. I was fortunate to learn art during the years I lived in Madrid, Spain and Altus, Oklahoma.
I have a YouTube channel with over 1,000 subscribers and used to shoot wedding videography professionally. I recently ran for public office and leveraged that same video savvy to maximize reach and traction. I still lost by a good margin, though.
A wise man once said “Don’t be the best; be the only.” I try to live by that!
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Napoleon, before he promoted his generals to field marshals, asked if they thought they were lucky or if their success was due to skill. He would only promote them if they said they were lucky.
I believe I am tremendously lucky. Lucky to get kicked out of the Naval Academy — I could be on a warship near the Strait of Hormuz right now!
I am lucky to have met Lauren and to have been able to work through the difficult early parts of our relationship.
I am lucky my cousin and brother live in Raleigh and were there for me during a hard time. I’m lucky I have a family that supports me.
I’m lucky I got into the MBA while I could and while my company would pay for it — before laying me off! I am lucky I still had a job while Lauren and I were looking for places to live together in Raleigh.
I’m lucky for having lost the election because I got all the publicity and also the time back to work on the business.
I’m lucky that early partner backed out on me because now the business can be mine and go in the direction I choose for it.
So many more ways — that’s just a few.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thebikelibrary.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.bike.library/
