Building the Spikeball Phenomenon

If you’ve been out and about on a Sunday, you have probably come across the product created by today’s guest. Chris Ruder is the Founder of Spikeball.com and he has a really cool story about how he started the company and ran it as a side hustle for five years before taking it full-time and growing it to where it is today.

Listen in as Chris shares what it was like raising the initial $100k he needed to launch the business from friends and family, why he never considered using third-party investors, and the lessons he learned mixing business and personal. We also dive into the marketing strategies that Chris has employed, why he has never relied on paid advertising, and how he has leveraged community, connection, and word of mouth to scale his business.

You’ll learn:

• The lessons Chris learned raising $100k from family and friends. (7:00)
• Why their values are to surpass and delight. (13:10)
• How distribution has changed for Spikeball.com. (17:00)
• The channel that is most valuable to them today. (25:00)
• What the past year has been like for the company. (29:50)
• Lightning round with Chris. (34:35)

Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher | Amazon

(With your host Andrew Youderian of eCommerceFuel.com and Chris Ruder of Spikeball.com)

What Was Mentioned

• Chris Ruder: Website
• eCommerceFuel Forum
• Fulfil.io
• One Click Upsell – Increase Sales 15%+ with Pre-and Post-purchase Upsells. (On average, Shopify users increase sales 15% immediately after installing the app!)

Post by Andrew Youderian

Andrew is the founder of eCommerceFuel and has been building eCommerce businesses ever since gleefully leaving the corporate world in 2008.  Join him and 1,000+ vetted 7- and 8-figure store owners inside the eCommerceFuel Community.