cover of episode Advice Line with Chris Ruder of Spikeball

Advice Line with Chris Ruder of Spikeball

2024/11/21
logo of podcast How I Built This with Guy Raz

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Chapters

Chris Ruder discusses how he identified niche customer groups for Spikeball and leveraged direct communication with customers to understand their needs and preferences.
  • Chris communicated directly with 100% of Spikeball's early customers.
  • He identified key customer groups like PE teachers, ultimate Frisbee players, and Christian youth groups through customer feedback.
  • Free product distribution was critical in spreading the word and building a cult-like following.

Shownotes Transcript

Spikeball founder and CEO Chris Ruder joins Guy on the Advice Line, where they answer questions from three early-stage founders. Plus, Chris shares an early-days strategy that ended up revealing surprising intel about his core customers.

First we meet Jimmy in California, who’s wondering how to find passionate managers as he scales his chain of parkour gyms. Then Cindy in Massachusetts, who’s looking to expand her running brand beyond its niche with a new product. And Nigel in New York, who’s poising himself for a comeback after his Rockaway Beach surf shop went under last year.

Thank you to the founders of Freedom in Motion Gym, Pen and Paces, and Station RBNY Surf Shop for being a part of our show.

If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to [email protected]) or call 1-800-433-1298.

And be sure to listen to Spikeball’s founding story) as told by Chris on the show in 2023.

This episode was produced by Sam Paulson, who also composed the music. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Neal Rauch.

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