Startup Lessons from Spikeball's Chris Ruder

"I think you're spot on, get like, essentially an internal leadership university baked into the parkour business."

• Implement internal training programs.
• Encourage continuous learning and development.
• Invest in employees' professional growth for long-term success.

"The more you can define that playbook, the better off you'll be."

• Create detailed documentation of successful processes.
• Use this playbook to train new team members.
• Consistency in operations aids in scaling effectively.

"When Dick's Sporting Goods reached out and said, we'd like to carry your product... they saw this sort of cult-like following... there was all this outside validation on social media and elsewhere proving that the world is into this."

• Build a strong community around your product.
• Use social proof to attract larger partners.
• Focus on organic growth before approaching big retailers.

"I think about John Foley... he lost almost all of it... without those failures, you don't learn... I actually think that's really inspiring because a lot of people are rooting against him."

• Embrace failure as part of the entrepreneurial journey.
• Draw inspiration from others who have overcome setbacks.
• Use past failures to fuel future success.

"In my experience, identify needs that other people have or a problem that you think you can solve... Is there a way to expand the lockers? I love it."

• Identify customer problems and develop products to solve them.
• Expand existing offerings that show potential.
• Stay customer-focused in product development decisions.

"You have people asking for the product, essentially your store. They're rallying around you... I think the big question going through my mind is, how can you leverage this group of people that want you to come back?"

• Engage your supportive community for potential fundraising.
• Utilize customer enthusiasm to rebuild your business.
• Explore crowdfunding options with your existing customer base.

"You need to create a system that identifies those people and then starts to give them incentives to stay, so equity in the business, some kind of ownership as you grow incentives."

• Develop clear career paths for employees.
• Offer incentives like equity to retain top talent.
• Invest in internal training to build specialized skills.

"I would, I don't want to say go deep and wide, but I guess as you're still in the early days and exploring... can you do more on-site sales there... or maybe go there and witness with a pen and a paper, like what other product ideas can you get?"

• Engage directly with your target audience at events.
• Collect feedback to inform product development.
• Focus marketing efforts where your customers congregate.

"I think the best entrepreneurs... without those failures, you don't learn... really think about what you learned, really spend time doing a self critique in a very constructive way."

• Embrace failures as learning opportunities.
• Reflect on setbacks to identify improvements.
• Use past experiences to strengthen future endeavors.

"I think step one is, it sounds like you've already started. Documenting everything that's working, if you think of that star employee right now, what is it that makes she or he great? Write that down, that is that persona you want to try and multiply."

• Document traits of star employees to define your ideal team member.
• Create a clear playbook to replicate success.
• Build an internal leadership development program.