Work, Play and Entrepreneurship
I recently went one on one with Chris Meade, co-founder of CROSSNET. CROSSNET is a newly invented four-way volleyball game founded by three childhood friends already in over 2,500 schools around the country more than 25 offline and online retail chains.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your best advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you and your business. How did you and friends come up with the idea for CROSSNET? And how did the game and the business ultimately come to life?
Chris: CROSSNET was invented back in the summer of 2017 and was sparked by a longing for outdoor fun with friends. We all grew up vacationing at Narragansett Beach in Rhode Island and coming from a small farm town, we could not wait until the summer hit so we could hit the beach. We realized that outside of sitting on your towel and riding the waves, there wasn’t much to actually do in that beautiful sand. It’s a crazy feeling knowing that beachgoers all across the world are bringing CROSSNET to their favorite spots and having the time of their life.
Adam: What are the key elements to taking your business to seven figures in revenue? What tips do you have for other entrepreneurs on how to go from idea to business to real company?
Chris: We never expected our business to grow from less than $100k in revenue in our first year to $2.25 million in year two. What I think separates us from other entrepreneurs is that we are extremely frugal and don’t waste money on fancy agencies or expensive marketing solutions that won’t bring a direct ROI within just a few days. If we spend $200, we better be seeing $201 back or we probably won’t be engaging in that service ever again. Having this type of bootstrapping mindset, forced us to constantly test and try new ideas that other startups might not have the ability to do since they have all of their cash locked up in this big marketing campaign that might control the fate of the business.
Every day our team is focused on creating new strategies and ideas to increase sales and to spread our game. Whether it's offering a 24 hour, exclusive $50 coupon code to a customer who may say our product is too expensive, or reaching out to set designers on film sets to get CROSSNET in the background of their next movie. No idea is too small, as long as we can capture impressions and emails, we’re very much open to trying it at least once.
Adam: How did your team get CROSSNET into retail chains? What advice do you have for others on how they can get their products into mainstream offline and online retailer respectively?
Chris: Is it crazy to say that DICK’S Sporting Goods actually filled out a chat box on our website to talk to us? Well, this is what actually happened, but I like to think it was the strategies we put into place for almost a year that led to that day actually happening. When we first started the company, I added every single sporting goods buyer possible at every retail store I can think of on LinkedIn. Whenever they accepted that request, I’d send them a link to our site and tell them to check it out. Most of the time my message would be unread, however they would still stay a connection and became exposed to my posts in their newsfeed. Over time they have now been exposed to CROSSNET and our awesome videos of Olympians and families playing hundreds of times, so when it was time for me to send them a follow up email or purchase their next line of inventory, CROSSNET was top of mind.
It is also vital that you fully understand your profit margins and your wholesale pricing. Will you offer free shipping? Do you need their shipping account? How many units come in a case? What promotional offer can you offer them to incentivize a purchase? These were all things we had to work out and learn from. I remember the first time SCHEELS (a large sporting goods retailer in the midwest) replied to me. I answered that email in all of 20 seconds with pure excitement… which led to a $10 loss on each unit. But hey things happen and you learn from it. We were then able to get our product finally in the store and use their logo and approach other retail chains.
In my eyes, it's all about collecting logos and having a good relationship at the store level. If your product is selling well at one place, why would it not sell at a similar retail chain somewhere else in the country? That's a fun conversation to have with potential buyers and when you have the numbers and data on your side, the conversation typically will tilt in your favor.
Adam: A big part of your business model has been your relationship with schools. How have you cultivated those relationships and what advice do you have for other entrepreneurs interested in doing business with schools?
Chris: When we first started CROSSNET we had no idea how physical education teachers went about purchasing their equipment. I was lucky that we had a good friend from childhood who went on to become the PE teacher at our local high school, so I was able to pick his brain on his ordering tendencies, curriculum advice, and things he was looking for in his classroom. For anybody who is creating a product to be used in schools, getting feedback from your users is vital before mass roll out. With CROSSNET we found out that three most important things were children safety, set-up time, and having the ability to be height adjustable. We then went back to the drawing board and engineered a product that was adjustable for three separate heights, was extremely durable and stable, and only required a few minutes to get up in sand, grass, or indoors.
As for actually getting into the 3,000 plus schools that we are in, we took the same LinkedIn approach with gym teachers and volleyball coaches. They are constantly looking for new activities for their students and players and there's no better way than getting their attention by teasing them with an awesome four-way volleyball net in their news feed. With LinkedIn marketing, you can also geo-target certain jobs and age demos as well. We also then made connections with the buyers at popular PE catalogs such as Flaghouse and Gopher Sports and they buy in wholesale from us and help build that physical education supply chain.
Adam: What are your best tips on how to get a product to go viral?
Chris: Invest in meaningful and high-quality content as soon as possible. There’s no magic switch to make your product go viral, especially when you’re starting out and you have a small following. However, working on growing your organic following on a daily basis will make a huge difference over time. Engage in posts within your community, for example, if you’re a sports product, leave valuable and on brand comments on relevant posts. Don’t just leave a fire emoji, actually say something captivating that can help you grow your audience. Also make sure that you are following potential customers as this will strike up interest, lead them to following you and then seeing your product in their timeline.
Another suggestion to get your product viral is influencer marketing. If margins permit, I highly suggest providing products to influencers as much as possible. There's a fine line between giving away too much product and burning cash, and selecting the 5-10 best influencers that you truly think can give you a return. Influencers are typically very protective of their image, so they will make sure to usually return high-quality pieces of content if you pick the right ones. Additionally, more times than not when starting off, their following will be much larger than yours, making the chance of their video or photo have a better chance to hit the explore page or go viral.
Adam: More broadly, what are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?
Chris:
Start small and don’t over-invest in inventory because of a price break. You will always be able to get more product when the sales come through.
Do your absolute best to attach ROI to every business decision. You wouldn’t let a friend borrow $20 and expect only $11 back. So why would you do the same for your business?
Create content geared towards different age demographics. Our parents react to content differently than we do, so why would you not market in a similar fashion?
Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Chris: Listen, be open to feedback, and constantly look to improve on your weaknesses.
I’ve quickly learned that respect is earned and not given, and providing your employees with honesty and a clear roadmap on achieving higher pay, responsibilities and autonomy will go a long way. I’m constantly looking for ways to improve employee satisfaction and also get everybody more involved. As a young company there are so many things we can be doing at one moment, so it's a challenge to buckle down and say here are the 3 things we need to be focused on this week. My goal is to get everybody to be proactive, rather than reactive.
Adam: What advice do you have on how to work with friends and not hurt those friendships?
Chris: It's strictly business. In my opinion, you should not begin working with a friend if you are unable to separate your friendship with the workplace. I’ve found that my friends are typically the ones who are going to give it to you straight and not sugarcoat things, exactly how I want to work. Arguments and disagreements are bound to happen, make sure you do not dwell on them and you squash any tension as soon as possible. Remember you are both going after the same thing, growing a business, making money, and creating an income.
What would you recommend to those considering going into business with friends or working with friends?
Make sure it's the right friend and that your skills complement one another. For example in our company, it was three friends but one excelled in sales, another in marketing and the third in engineering. This allowed the three of us to flourish and to focus on only what we are good at, rather than butting heads to get our vision to move forward.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Chris: Stay frugal. Stay humble.